T&T's senior women's hockey5 team went down 2-1 to the United States of America (USA) on Thursday evening in their attempt to earn an automatic qualification spot for the Hockey World Cup in Muscat, Oman next January 2024.
However, the team still has another chance at qualifying from a third-place play-off against the loser of the other semi-final between Paraguay and Uruguay on Saturday, 6:30 pm TT time at the University of the West, Mona Campus, as the Hockey5s Qualifiers continued in Kingston, Jamaica.
Needing to win to seal one of two automatic qualifying spots from their semi-final, T&T women drew first blood when Felicia King fired them into the lead in the 7th minute.
However, their celebrations were shortlived as the USA levelled the scores through Linnea Gonzales in the 9th minute, before the teams went to the break at one goal apiece.
Gonzales then scored again five minutes after the break to give her team a 2-1 advantage which T&T women did not recover.
Earlier, the T&T women booked their place in the final four courtesy of a hat-trick from prolific captain Krizia Layne-Alexander in a comprehensive 8-0 drubbing of Guatemala in their first of two match-programme on the day.
Layne-Alexander, didn't take long to fire the T&T team into the lead, after just a minute.
The equally talented Shaniah De Freitas gave the Calypso Stickwomen a two-goal advantage in the very next minute, courtesy of a field goal, while little to no resistance by the Guatemalans, coupled with the desire to win by the T&T team, led Chelsea Dey to fire in country's third goal for a 3-0 lead from the field in the 6th minute.
Veteran Samantha Olton then scored the first of her double on the day in the 8th minute that handed the women in red, white and black a 4-0 lead. And as the teams headed towards the break, Layne-Alexander added another item, and T&T's fifth goal in the 9th minute to a 5-0 advantage ahead of the team talk.
Afterwards, it was only a matter of formality as the Guatemalans failed to make a dent in the sturdy T&T defence. Felicia King made it 6-0 in the 10th minute and Layne-Alexander completed her hat-trick with a 14th-minute field goal for a 7-0 scoreline.
Olton then hammered the final nail into the Guatemalan coffin to complete the 8-0 rout.
T&T's triumph, coupled with the USA's comfortable 3-0 victory over the home team in the other quarterfinal encounter, had put the teams on a collision course with the top two teams set to not only qualify for the final but book their places at the 16-team Hockey World Cup in Muscat, Oman next January 2024.
In another quarterfinal game, Paraguay shut out Brazil 2-0.
