Trinidad and Tobago Women’s Senior Hockey team came up short against tournament hosts Peru in a 2-0 defeat in the Women’s Pan American Challenge in Lima.
TTO had an exciting tournament to say the least. Starting off with a last second win against the Peruvians in the first goal courtesy Brianna Govia, a 4 goal thriller that saw Shania De Freitas and Zene Henry link up for more late game drama, the draw against Brazil and the penalty shootout against Paraguay. For casuals watching a full competition for the first time, this was a great way to get into the sport. The team put together great performances and were usually somewhat punching above their weight class (TTO’s ranked 48th in the world according to FIH Rankings; Peru’s ranked 34th, Brazil’s ranked 37th, Paraguay’s ranked 58th).
By making the Final of the Pan American Challenge on Friday, TTO have already qualified for the 2022 Pan American Cup in January. Trinidad and Tobago were set to be the hosts for this tournament in 2020 but due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Trinidad and Tobago were forced to withdraw from holding the tournament. The Pan American Cup is now set to be played in Chile.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Women’s team have finished no higher than 4th at the competition, that result being achieved in 2009. They will be seen as the underdogs as they face the likes of Argentina (3rd ranked in the world), Canada (13th) the United States (15th), hosts Chile (18th), Uruguay (26th), Mexico (30th), and Peru.
I, personally, will be looking forward to watching both the women’s and men’s hockey teams participate in the 2022 Pan American Cup as well as the Central American and Caribbean Games, which was slated to take place in 2020 but again, due to the Pandemic, it had to be rescheduled.
Q Sports 