Long Island University duo, Kaitlyn Olton and Felicia “Chucky” King scored a second-half goal each as T&T Calypso Stickwomen dominated Peru 2-0 in their second Group B match of the Pan American Cup at the Prince of Wales Country Club, La Reina, Santiago, Chile on Friday.
The victory for the Avion Ashton-captained T&T women, not only kept them in the main draw of the qualifiers for the FIH World Cup later this year, but it also brightened the mood of the team camp as sources close to the team informed that some of the players were the victims of theft with personal belongings and cash being taken from their rooms.
According to the source the matter has been reported to team management who in turn have reported the situation to the hotel management who are now dealing with the issue.
With both teams going into the match on the back of heavy defeats, T&T losing 16-0 to USA and the Peruvians 14-0 against Canada, the battle was on between the two less fancy nations to get a win ahead of their final pool matches to secure the third spot, which will guarantee a place in the playoffs to determine the three qualifiers to the 16-team FIH Women’s World Cup in Terrassa, Spain and Amstelveen, the Netherlands from July 1-17.
From very early on, the “Calypso Stickwomen” who edged Peru 1-0 last September before a 2-0 loss in the Pan Am Challenge final last year, the qualifier to this tournament – took the game to the South Americans.
However, despite piling up no fewer than seven penalty short-corners in the first half, the T&T women were kept at bay with Peruvian goalkeeper Mikaela Tannert, coming up trumps with the help of her defence.
The T&T players were also at fault for not trying some different with their set plays as well as they continued to be frustrated with a lack of clinical finishing or composure when needed.
The opening goal finally came in the 43rd minute through one of the three Olton sisters in the team, two minutes before the end of the third period.
And two minutes from full-time with the short-handed Peruvians who only dressed 13 players for the match pushing for an equaliser, King, one of four LIU players in the Anthony Marcano-coached T&T squad, ranked 48th in the world made certain of all three points with the team’s second against the 34th ranked Peruvians.
For yesterday’s encounter coach Marcano’s 18-member squad featured seven new faces as compared to when both nations met last year in Lima inclusive of the LIU quartet of King, and the Olton sisters, Kaitlyn, Samantha and Saarah as well as USA-based Tamia Roach, and Australian-based Kimberly Young.
On the other hand, the Peruvians only travelled with 15 players, one of whom was not part of the contingent for their last meeting with T&T and for Friday’s match two of the 15 were unavailable.
USA took a giant step towards securing the lone automatic semifinal spot as group winners after a battling come-from-behind 3-1 win over neighbours Canada.
For Canada, Brienne Stairs scored in the 48th minute from a penalty-corner set play to take her tournament tally to six goals in two matches but within a minute Karlie Kisha replied for the Americans from a penalty-corner set play as well before Ashley Sessa netted the go-ahead item in the 57th, her third of the tournament, followed by captain Amanda Magadan in the 59th.
Last night in the lone Group A match, third-ranked Argentina buoyed by its 6-0 defeat of Uruguay faced Chile, ranked 18th.
On Sunday’s final day of round-robin women’s matches, T&T plays Canada from 1 pm while USA faces Peru from 3.15 pm, and in Pool A, Chile meets Uruguay from 5.30 pm.
At the end of the round-robin pool play, the top team from each pool will advance directly to the main draw semifinals on January 27 while the second and third-placed teams in each pool meet in cross-over quarterfinals two days earlier to determine the two remaining semifinal qualifiers.
This is the fourth time the T&T women are appearing in the competition after making their debut in 2004 in Barbados when they ended eighth.
T&T then qualified in 2009 and placed fourth in Bermuda, and four years later they ended seventh in Argentina.
The 2022 Women's FIH Hockey World Cup will be the 15th edition of the Women's FIH Hockey World Cup, and will be held in Terrassa, Spain and Amstelveen, the Netherlands from July 1 to 17, 2022.
Results:
January 21:
T&T 2 (Kaitlyn Olton 43rd, Felicia King 54th) vs Peru 0
USA 2 (Karlie Kisha 49th, Ashley Kessa 57th, Amanda Magadan 59th) vs Canada 1 (Brienne Stairs 48th)
Current Pool B standings:
Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*Pts
USA*2*2*0*0*19*1*6
Canada*2*1*0*1*15*3*3
T&T*2*1*0*1*2*16*3
Peru*2*0*0*2*0*16*0
Remaining schedule:
Sunday, January 23:
Canada vs T&T, 2 pm
Peru vs USA, 4.15 pm
Uruguay vs Chile, 5.30 pm
Tuesday, January 25:
Cross-Over quarterfinals
2nd Pool A vs 3rd Pool B, 3 pm
2nd Pool B vs 3rd Pool A, 5.30 pm
Thursday, January 27:
5th to 6th playoff, 12.30 pm
Semifinals: 3 pm & 5.30 pm
Sunday, January 30:
Third place and Final playoffs, 3 pm & 5.30 pm