T&T women’s hockey team spank Barbados 2-0
TRINIDAD and Tobago women’s hockey team beat second-ranked Barbados 2-0 in their final pool match to win the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) World Hockey League Round One at the Mona hockey field in Kingston yesterday.
Playing the second of four matches on the day, captain Alana Lewis and Oire Trotman scored first-half goals to give Trinidad and Tobago victory, which left them unbeaten in the five-team tournament.
Trinidad and Tobago, the number one-ranked team in the pool at 3I by FIH, opened their quest with a 5-1 thrashing of Puerto Rico on the opening day, September 30. Puerto Rico are the lowest ranked team, at 63rd, taking part in the pool.
The following day the women from the twin-island republic overturned the Dominican Republic, the third highest rated team in the pool, 3-1, before a plucky Jamaica aggregation, rated at 60th, kept them to a 2-0 winning margin.
The Trinidad and Tobago men’s team also beat Barbados yesterday to set themselves on the path to follow their female counterparts to the second round set for Montevideo, Uruguay, with a consummate 3-1 win.
With six points from two outright wins and two from a penalty shoot-out victory, Trinidad and Tobago need only to come up trumps against hosts Jamaica today to book their place.
By virtue of accummulating maximum 12 points, Trinidad and Tobago have advanced to round two in Montevideo, Uruguay, next year February. More importantly, the win was a useful test for the Trinis to move on to the CAC Games in Vera Cruz, Mexico, in defence of their gold medal.