2012 Junior Pan American Championship (Women): Argentina wins
Tournament awards
Top scorer: Manuela Urroz (Chile, #10)
Player of the tournament: Florencia Habif (Argentina, #8)
Goalkeeper of the tournament: Sofia Belen Monserrat (Argentina, #1)
Fair play: Uruguay (team)
2013 Junior World Cup qualifiers: Argentina, Canada, United States
First place: Argentina
With Captain and 2012 Olympian Florencia Habif leading the way, Argentina cruised through pool play with shut-out victories over Brazil (10 goals), Mexico (8 goals), and Canada (6 goals). Argentina faced its first tough competition in its pool play win against Uruguay; and Uruguay was the first to score against Argentina, but Argentina came away with the 4-1 win. Thus, Argentina found its way in the semi-final against the United States where it had a dominating performance. Argentina won 6-0 off goals by six different players (Villarroya, Gomes Fantasia, Werthein, Juarez, RomanG, and Albertarrio). In the final, having previously beat Canada 6-nill in pool play, Argentina probably was surprised to be tied nill-nill with Canada at halftime of the Final match. As always, however, Argentina’s skilled play paid off and Argentina’s Julia Mailen Gomes Fantasia gave her team a 2-nill lead off penalty corner goals in the 43rd and 54th minutes, respectively. Argentina continued to dominate possession and while Canada made it a 2-1 match in the 66th minute, Argentina withstood Canada’s attacking pressure in the final minutes to secure the first place finish. Florencia Habif and keeper Sofia Belen Monserrat were awarded player and goalkeeper of the tournament, respectively.
Top scorers: Julia Mailen Gomes Fantasia (6 penalty corner goals) and Gisele Estefania Juarez (5 field goals and 1 penalty corner goal) both tied for 6th on the top scorers list.
Second place: Canada
Canada’s 2-1 loss to Argentina in the final was a valiant one; and showed great progress since Canada’s 6-0 loss to Argentina in pool play. The final was scoreless at halftime due to Canada’s solid defense behind keeper Bea Francisco and immense fitness amongst the team. Canada got to the final match through a series of thrilling matches. After beating Brazil in a dominant fashion (7-0), Canada had a tough match against Uruguay that found both teams come to a 2-2 draw after Canada’s Maddie Secco scored her second goal of the match to tie the match 2-2 off a penalty corner just as time expired. Then Canada lost 6-nill to powerhouse Argentina. Consequently, to advance to a semi-final, Canada if it beat host Mexico was going to find itself in a tie for second place in its pool with Uruguay; and would need to beat Mexico by a goal differential of at least five goals. After being ahead just 1-0 over Mexico at halftime, with about 25 minutes remaining in the match Coach Peter Milkovich took a gamble and removed his keeper for a kicking back. The gamble paid off and Canada rattled off four goals in a ten minute span—three of which were penalty corner goals by Caashia Karrington who’s drag flick proved essential for Canada throughout the tournament.
Top scorers: Caashia Karrington (1 field goal and 6 penalty corner goals)—tied for third on the top scorers list.
Third place: United States
After losing a hard semi-final match to Argentina, the United States found themselves facing another South American rival in the 3rd/4th place match: Chile. While the United States lost to Chile (1-2) in Pool play, when it came time to play Chile for bronze and a 2013 Junior World Cup birth, the United States came out hard and persistent on defense. It was goalkeeper Lauren Blazing who kept the United States from falling early in the match, and even moreso, at the end of the match. With no time remaining on the match, it was Blazing and the rest of the defensive penalty corner unit (including Captain Emily Wold) who secured the narrow 2-1 victory over Chile as they saved about six penalty corners. Except for the United States’ close loss to Chile in pool play, the United States won its other pool matches by a large margin: versus Venezuela (9-0), Paraguay (8-0), Trinidad & Tobago (9-1), and Jamaica (8-0) due to its variety of attackers, including Nikki Parsley and Heather Morris who finished in second and sixth amongst the tournament scorers.
Top scorers: Nikki Parsley (7 field goals and 1 penalty corner goal), and Heather Morris (6 field goals).
Fourth place: Chile
How they got there: Led by the creative attackers who ended up first, third, and sixth respectively in tournament scoring, Manuela Urroz, Josefina Khamis, and Captain Fernanda Flores, Chile had big pool play wins over Paraguay (9-0), Venezuela (11-1), and Trinidad & Tobago (7-1). Chile’s narrow 2-1 win over the United States (also in pool play) off two goals by top scorer of the tournament Manuela Urroz guided Chile to a spot in a semi-final that turned out to be against Canada. Tied 1-1 at half-time against Canada, Chile could not find a way to score in the second half and fell to Canada (1-3) in the semi-final. Thus, Chile played the United States in the 3th/4th place match where both teams were battling for a 2013 Junior World Cup birth. Chile and the United States played a more even game in the bronze medal match and Francisca Vidaurre tied the match right before halftime. In the second half, Chile continued to try to attack, especially towards the very end of the match. With no time remaining in the match, Chile had about six penalty corners, but could not convert; and consequently fell (1-2) to the United States to finish in fourth place.
Top-scorers: Manuela Urroz (5 field goals and 5 penalty corner goals), Josefina Khamis (6 field goals and 1 penalty corner goal), and Captain Fernanda Flores (1 field goal & 5 penalty corner goals).
Fifth place: Uruguay
How they got there: Uruguay’s 9-0 win over Venezuela secured a fifth place finish. Behind the strong penalty corner shots of Agustina Taborda (three goals), Uruguay had a five goal lead over Venezuela at halftime. In the second half, the offensive play of Manuela Vilar Del Valle (two goals) guided Uruguay to a 9-0 victory. In pool play, Uruguay had wins over Mexico and Brazil, respectively; and beat Trinidad & Tobago in cross-over play. But unfortunately tied with Canada and lost to Argentina, who both secured a spot in the Final match. Uruguay was awarded the fair play award for their clean and fair play throughout the tournament.
Top-scorers: Agustina Taborda (6 penalty corner goals-tied for 6th on the top scorers list); Manuela Vilar Del Valle (4 field goals and 1 penalty corner goal)
Sixth place: Venezuela
How they got there: In a thrilling double-extra time win over host Mexico, Venezuela’s Johandri Sánchez secured her team its place in the 5th/6th place match. Behind the strong play of goalkeeper Eva Montes, Venezuela had close wins in pool play over Trinidad & Tobago (3-2) and Paraguay (2-1), respectively; as well as their cross-over win against Mexico (3-2).
Top-scorers: Johandri Sánchez (2 field goals and 2 penalty corner goals); Stehpanie Gonzalez (2 field goals and 1 penalty corner goal)
Seventh place: Mexico
How they got there: Host Mexico was looking to make a statement, but only beat Brazil in pool play. With a tough double-extra time loss to Venezuela in cross-over play, Mexico faced Trinidad & Tobago in the match for 7th/8th place. Off goals from Jazel Arlet Salazar Miranda and Maria Guadelupe Correa Conejo, Mexico held on for the 2-0 victory against Trinidad & Tobago to secure seventh place.
Eighth place: Trinidad & Tobago
How they got there: Trinidad & Tobago beat Jamaica, and had close losses to Venezuela (2-3) and Paraguay (3-4) in pool play; with feisty Brianna Govia leading the scoring for Trinidad & Tobago. However, a loss to eventual fifth place finisher Uruguay in cross-over play assured that Trinidad & Tobago would not have a chance to content for a higher placement. Unfortunately, the scoring would not come for Govia and her teammates against Mexico, as Trinidad & Tobago lost (0-2) to place eighth.
Top-scorers: Brianna Govia (5 field goals)
Ninth place: Paraguay
How they got there: Thanks to María Servian Giosa’s hot hands, Paraguay beat Jamaica (3-0) off two field goals by Servian Giosa and a penalty stroke by Ivanna Romero Gehrmann. Previously, Paraguay had an exciting 4-3 win (three goals by Servian Giosa) against Trinidad & Tobago that was also their first tournament win. In cross-over play, the excitement continued for Paraguay as they squeaked by Brazil in double-extra time, again off a goal by Servian Giosa. And Paraguay played Jamaica in the 9th/10th place match.
Top-scorers: María Servian Giosa (5 field goals and 2 penalty corner goals—tied for 3rd on the top scorers list)
Tenth place: Jamaica
How they got there: With Jamaica’s only pool play win a 2-0 victory over Paraguay due to goals by Trudy-Ann Knight and Captain Demi Nicholson, respectively, Jamaica played Brazil in the cross-over match to decide who would advance to the 9th/10th place match. Jamaica was lucky to hold on to their two-nill halftime lead against Brazil off two penalty corner goals (Knight and Chakira Airey) as Brazil scored in the 40th minute to cut Jamaica’s lead to one goal. Coming away with the 2-1 victory over Brazil, Jamaica advanced to play Paraguay for 9th/10th place. Yet in a surprising upset, Jamaica failed to score and Paraguay won 3-nill; meaning that Jamaica finished the tournament in 10th place.
Eleventh place: Brazil
How they got there: Without a goal or a draw in pool play, Brazil struggled to find their way throughout the tournament. Yet, Brazil’s persistent defense was on display when Brazil played Paraguay in its cross-over match. As a result, Brazil helped force the match in to double-extra time as the match stayed tied 0-0 at the end of regulation and one extra time. Unable to score the golden goal, however, Brazil lost 1-nill to Paraguay and went to play Jamaica in another cross-over match to decide who would play for 9th/10th place. Against Jamaica, Brazil found themselves down by two goals at halftime, but Brazil’s Camila De Aguiar Lemos scored Brazil’s first goal of the tournament to make it a JAM 2-1 BRA match in the 40th minute. Unlucky, Brazil was unable to score another goal and lost to Jamaica (1-2).
