After two more days of the 2012 Junior Pan American Championship (Women), Argentina and Chile are atop Pools A and B, respectively. Argentina had two dominating wins over Brazil and host Mexico. Argentina opened the match against Brazil dominate on attack and earned a lot of penalty corners in the first half. Gisele Estefania Juarez gave Argentina a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute. Credit to Brazil, however, who played tremendously strong defense and prevented Argentina from further capitalizing off attacking opportunities. Thus the score remained 1-0 in favor of Argentina at halftime. Juarez also scored Argentina’s first goal in the second half. Juarez’s field goal in the 37th minute opened the scoring for Argentina as they scored three goals in five minutes (two by Maria De Las Mercedes Correa) to put them ahead 5-nill. In the final 15 minutes of the second half, Argentina finally was successful at converting their penalty corners, scoring off three. With Brazil unable to generate any kind of attack, the final score was 10-0. Like Brazil, Mexico also played strong defense to stifle the strong Argentina attack in the first half of the match. It was 3-nill Argentina at the half, with two goals coming from penalty corners by Julian Mailen Gomes Fantasia and Florencia Zapulla. In the second half, in front of the loud home crowd, Mexico continued to work hard on defense. As the match went on Argentina widened the score, but three of their five second half goals came off penalty corners that included another by Gomes Fantasia and Zapulla, respectively. With the fans still cheering loudly at the end, the match ended 8-nill in favor of Argentina.
The most thrilling match to date of the 2012 Junior Pan American Championship (Women) was the Pool A match between Canada and Uruguay, respectively. Canada came out dominating possession, but both teams had a few penalty corners and attacking opportunities in the first half. Uruguay scored first in the 19th minute off a penalty stroke by Captain Janine Stanley. Not to be outdone, Madeline Secco tied the match just three minutes later. The match remained tied 1-1 at halftime. The second half was also a battle for possession with play being more in Canada’s attacking half. However, Uruguay took the lead in the 46th minute off a penalty corner goal by Camilia De Maria. Canada persisted on attack, but the Uruguay defense held strong to maintain the lead. In a thrilling final minute, Canada earned a penalty corner as time expired; and Secco scored her second goal of the match to make it a 2-2 final score.
In Pool B, similar to Argentina, Chile had a big 10-nill win over their opponent, Jamaica. In the 10th minute, Francisca Vidaurre started the scoring. Soon after Manuela Urroz made it a 2-0 score. With Jamaica unable to stop Chile’s strong attack, by halftime the score was 4-0. The second half was no different with Chile scoring six goals, four off penalty corners (two by Maria Jose Mackenna). Unlucky for Jamaica who was coming off a 3-nill loss to Caribbean rival Trinidad & Tobago. With both teams battling, it took until the 24th minute for a score and Trinidad & Tobago’s Kelli O’Brien gave her team the lead. In the second half, Trinidad & Tobago had more possession on the attack; and goals by Brianna Govia and Danna De Gannes made it 3-0. With Jamaica unable to generate scoring opportunities, Trinidad & Tobago had the 3-0 victory.
The other high scoring Pool B match was between the United States and Paraguay. Very similar to the Chile versus Jamaica match, the United States opened the scoring in the 10th minute (field goal by Emma Bozek) and held a 4-nill advantage at halftime; thanks to two goals by Nikki Parsley. Paraguay had a hard time containing the balanced United States attack that managed to score within each third of the second half. Parsley sealed the scoring for the United States in the 66th minute to earn a hat trick and make it an 8-0 win for the United States against Paraguay. Right now, Parsley and Bozek are in first and second place, respectively, on the goal scorer list for the 2012 Junior Pan American Championship (Women). Both Jamaica and Paraguay will look to earn their first tournament win in their next match that is against each other.
Pool B also featured a thrilling match that was between Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago. Looking much improved, Venezuela took an early 1-0 lead off a field goal by Stephanie Gonzalez in the third minute. Both teams continued to battle in the first half and both earned a few penalty corners. Venezuela quickly made it a 3-nill score with back-to-back goals in the 21st and 24th minutes, respectively, by Patricia Mujica and Esther Padron. Trinidad & Tobago did not let up and Brianna Govia made it a 3-1 score in the 26th minute; the 3-1 score held at halftime. The second half was again a more or less even battle for possession. Trinidad & Tobago looked like it was making a comeback when Zene Henry scored in the 49th minute. Yet, with both teams playing strong defense the final score remained 3-2 and Venezuela came away with the win.
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