Argentina affirmed their spot at the top of Pool A with a convincing 13-1 victory over Cuba. An eight goal first half depicted the flow of the game despite several saves from Cuba keeper Yurismailis Garcia.

The Leonas opened the scoring on their second penalty corner in just the second minute of play. Carla Rebechhi’s drag flick was saved but the rebound was knocked in out of the air by Maria Granatto. Victoria Granatto created Argentina’s second goal after she stripped the ball of a Cuba defender and walked in to the circle all alone to blast home a second Argentina goal. Within the same minute Noel Barrionuevo made it 3-0 burying a drag flick in to the bottom corner. Julieta Jankunas made it 4-0 to end the quarter on a back-hand shot after a failed penalty corner execution.  

Barrionuevo scored her second of the game on another low drag flick in the 21^st minute before Cuba would stun the Leonas. A hard hit in to the circle my Jennifer Martinez created a flurry of activity in front of Argentina keeper Belen Succi. Yunia Milanes was the beneficiary and calmly flipped the ball past Succi to break the thought of a shutout.

Argentina immediately responded with three goals just four minutes apart from Rebecchi, Jankunas and captain Rosario Luchetti. Rebecchi one-timed the ball in after some hard work on the baseline by Eugenia Trinchinetti. Jankunas walked the ball in to the circle alone and blasted a back hand under the cross bar to make it 7-1 for Argentina. Luchetti added the eighth goal on a penalty corner when she deflected a Barrionuevo drag flick and Argentina led 8-1 at half time.

In the 39^th minute Maria Granatto drove the circle and found a wide open Agustina Albertarrio. Garcia came out to challenge and Albertarrio spun and flipped the ball towards the stroke mark for Jankunas to turn and score her third of the game. Rebecchi added her second of the game on a back hand smash to push a nine-goal margin, up 10-1.

Garcia continued to shine, denying several shots in a row, while Argentina’s persistence and presence was just too much for the young Cuba defence. Rebecchi put in a loose ball after a third rebound off Garcia to make it 11-1 for Argentina.  

The No. 63-ranked Cuba team made several great defensive plays to keep No. 3 Argentina from scoring on nearly every play. What didn’t show on the scoresheet were the countless saves by Garcia and the relentless penalty corner defence anchored by Brizaida Ramos and Sunaylis Nikle.

Barrionuevo added two more goals, both on penalty corners, both after drag flicks were stopped on the goal line by the feet of Ramos. With the 13-1 victory Argentina affirm that they will play Peru in the quarter-finals.