Pam Am indoor Hockey C/Ships… USA Women remain unbeaten with 4-1 win over Canada

Oct 21, 2017 Sports, https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...4-1-win-over-canada/

By Sean Devers

The small but vocal crowd at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall yesterday was entertained by a display of high class hockey from the clinical USA team on the penultimate day of the 2017 Pan Am Hockey Championship as they beat defending Champions Canada 4-1 in an epic battle between the top two women’s teams in this year’s tournament.
In the first match of the day Argentina beat Uruguay 3-2, while T&T got the better of a spirited Barbados 11-4 although this was the best game played by the Bajans despite the result. The crafty Ayana Williams, their best player, scored the first goal of the game for Barbados, who missed some crucial chances in the first half. But the fitter Trinis out ran their slower Bajan counterparts as their defensive end ran out of gas and put plenty of pressure on their custodian Sheena Nicholls.
In the Women’s match of the day, USA’s sixth consecutive win was highlighted by a dazzling performance by Ali Campbell, who registered a hat-trick from penalty corners, while Allison Fuller netted once for the Americans, who are favored to capture their first Pan Am Championship title since the Championships was first played in 2002.
The highly talented Alison Lee scored the only goal for Canada, whose two titles were achieved in 2005 and 2014 when Men’s team also won titles.
This was Canada’s second defeat but it still leaves them with a chance of qualifying for the 2018 indoor Hockey world in Germany next year February, along with USA, Uruguay and Argentina.
The most evenly contested women’s game of the day was played at a frenetic pace and Canada’s Alison Lee made the first shot on goal in the opening minutes but it was brilliantly saved Samantha Carlino.
The US enjoyed more possession of the ball and it was a battle of attrition with the USA employing a more tactical game which seemed to put the defending champs off their game plan.
At half time the electronic scoreboard read 2-1 as Campbell beat Kathrin Williams twice, while in between those efforts Lee scored the equalizer which in the end proved to Canada only goal in the contest.
The second stanza began with Lee, who displayed plenty of skill with her stick, going around the defence and firing at Goal for Carlino to make another good save as the overall standards of the Goalies in the Women’s game continued to be high in this year’s Championships.
The USA got their third goal when Campbell, who presented an imposing presence, once again beat the diving Canadian goalie before Fuller went around Williams to find the back of the net. Several good saves by Carlino kept Canada at bay before the buzzer sounded to end the well fought game as an emotional Lee sank to the floor in tears.