Bajans go down to Chile, finish sixth

Thursday 29, April-2004
by Sherrylyn Clarke

BARBADOS finished sixth in the Pan American Women’s Hockey Cup after going down 2-5 to Chile at the National Hockey Centre yesterday.

The match, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday night, was played at 2 p.m., following heavy, driving rains which caused the Astroturf to resemble the outfield at the Queen’s Park Oval during last weekend’s abandoned One-Day International.

Barbados could have had a much better showing, but according to coach Peter Norville, they only showed up in the second half.

“Clearly it would be nicer to be fifth than sixth, but when you have more than one goal in a tournament and the goal is achieved before the final game, sometimes it is not that easy for the players to refocus.

“Our girls basically turned up only in the second half today [yesterday] and that is one of the things we said to them at half-time. Had they given a 70-minute effort, the result might be different, but they are learning,” Norville said.

“The team that played the better hockey won today. It was a complete team effort, but hopefully we would have still come out with some learning, some knowledge from this game. Some patterns evolved and I think that was crucial. It teaches us some things that we need to tighten up on. We will be working on areas, a little piece at a time.”

Apart from the ability to bring intensity for the full period, the team will also need to work on the basic passing and control. They won balls, but failed to maintain possession, either with wayward passing, over-dribbling or not defending.

Chile scored all five of their goals from the field before Barbados got off one. Daniela Infante and Carolina Garcia scored two goals each and Paula Infante had the other, three coming before half-time.

Barbados’ first goal came off the play when Tricia-ann Greaves cleared the ball out of the defensive half to Corlette Kellman on the right, who in turn passed to Nicole Brathwaite. She carried it all the way to the baseline and passed it across the circle to Kellman who finished.

Several other chances went abegging, but special mention must be made of Dionne Clarke who played well with a bandaged right leg, making some timely interceptions which no doubt helped the scoreline.

The second goal came after Francisca Debesa was sent off with two minutes remaining. Captain Maria Browne took the strike from a short corner to restore some pride, but it was too little, too late.

Central American and Caribbean champions Trinidad and Tobago leave the tournament in the cellar, having lost 1-3 to the previously winless Netherlands Antilles. The second half of this match was concluded yesterday as well.

Nicole Dixon-Aming scored for Trinidad who got onto the score sheet first, but then watched as an overjoyed Daphne Mulder scored the very first goal for the Netherlands. Maaika Thies scored just before half-time on Tuesday.

Mulder’s second goal was scored when the game resumed yesterday to ensure her team was seventh.

The wet conditions favoured the Netherlands who were able to play at a much slower pace and took the game away from Trinidad

Information compliments of the Nation News

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