Day 2 of the 2011 Pan American Challenge began with a match between Uruguay and Bermuda women. Both teams were looking for their first win of the tournament. A few minutes into the match, Uruguay’s Bettina BOCCA scored a goal to make it 1-0 in favor of Uruguay. Uruguay continued to dominate ball possession for the majority of the half. However, Bermuda’s defense played really strong to prevent Uruguay from scoring more for much of the rest of the half. With only a minute left in the first half, however, Uruguay’s Lucia DE MARIA sent in a field goal. The score remained 2-0 at halftime.

Uruguay continued their offensive pressure in the second half. Despite sound defense by Bermuda to block the attack, Uruguay earned a penalty stroke off a penalty corner foul. Uruguay’s Captain Patricia CAMPOS put in the stroke to make the score 3-0. With about 10 minutes to go, Uruguay’s Paula CARVALHO made it 4-0. Uruguay kept up their attack and a few minutes later, Uruguay’s Karina BISIGNANO scored to give her team a five goal advantage. With one minute left in the match, CARVALHO scored again to make the final score 6-0 over Bermuda.

MATCH QUOTES

Uruguay’s Coach Gonzalo FERRER

On the match…

We are a mix of junior and senior players, so I thought we played well. We are not just here playing hockey for this tournament, but for the development of hockey in Uruguay [in general].

Uruguay’s Captain Patricia CAMPOS

On the match…

Uruguay played well and got into a rhythm. Of course, our objective is to win this tournament and qualify for the 2013 Pan American Cup. Everyone played about equal minutes today and that was great to see.

On what the team needs to improve on (for the tournament)…

We need to earn more short corners. We defended well and we gave up no short corners, but we need to get more offensive short corners.

Bermuda’s Coach Dafydd HERMANN-SMITH

On the match…

I’m very proud; to go three quarters of a match down three goals and having [only] surrendered four penalty corners that is an accomplishment for us. We lack exposure and continuous hockey. I think the girls played very well. Three goals down three-quarters into a match against a top side like Uruguay is not surprising. For the tiny island of Bermuda, this is a very acceptable result.

On what Bermuda needs to work on…

Control. We need not to panic in the midfield and work our way up field to give us more scoring opportunities.

Bermuda’s Kirsten FARIA

On the match…

We played with passion and heart in the match; that Bermuda always plays with. We had a strong backfield with strong tackles and it was suprising how long we were able to hold off [Uruguay’s] offense especially given their level. Bermuda played phenomenal and we were also unlucky. This was a great result especially given Bermuda’s historical results against Uruguay.