After their preliminary rounds went almost exactly as predicted, both the Canadian men’s and women’s field hockey teams are on to the quarterfinals at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.
The women’s quarterfinal will be played Monday at 7:30pm/ET when Canada takes on Uruguay, while the men hit the field on Tuesday at 7:30pm/ET against Trinidad and Tobago.
After three matches each in pool play, both Canadian teams finished in the upper echelon of their respective pools.
The women, with a record of two wins and one loss, finished second in Pool A after Argentina and the men, who were undefeated, finished at the top of Pool B.
The placing means the Canadians will face lower ranked teams in the crossover quarterfinals. But don’t let the ranking fool you; the tournament gets tougher from here.
CANADA vs URUGUAY – MONDAY, JULY 20 – 7:30PM ET
In the Uruguayans, the Canadian women, who are ranked twentieth in the world and third at the Pan Am Games, faced the twenty-ninth ranked team in the world and the fifth ranked team in the tournament.
Uruguay won once and lost twice during pool play. It’s win, 3-2 over Cuba, came against the tournaments second last ranked team. While its two losses came at the hands of the United States (5-0) and Chile (3-0).
Canada and Uruguay have a certain level familiarity with each other, having recently faced-off at the World League Semifina in Valencia, Spain.
The tournament’s ninth and tenth ranked teams respectively, the Canadians and Uruguayans met in the ninth place match at World League, with Canada coming out on top by a score of 2-0.
The teams had previously met twice before since 2008. Canada won 1-0 at 2012’s World Laague Round 1 and 5-0 in an Olympic qualifier in 2008. Both matches were round-robin matches.
The winner of the Canada-Uruguay quarterfinal will face the winner of
KEY STATS: Canada’s Kate Gillis, Karli Johansen, and Stephanie Norlander each have three goals and are tried for third in Pan American Games scoring.
CANADA vs TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO – TUESDAY, JULY 21 – 7:30PM ET
On the men’s side, Canada faces a Trinidadian side which is ranked fifth in the tournament, comapred to Canada’s second place ranking.
The two teams have played each other three times in the last two years, most recently at World Leaugue Round 2 in San Diego in March, when the Canadians earned a 3-0 win.
The two times prior were also Canadian wins, 3-1 at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and a 3-1 win at the Pan American Cup in 2013. All three previous matches were round robin contests.
In the Trinidadians, Canada get a hard working and experienced team, which as an average age of 27. Trinidad, however, is missing one of it’s key players, Kwan Browne, due to a knee injury.
Canada is coming off an explosive 8-1 win over Mexico in its final pool match. But what is even more impressive than its 18 goals for in three games is the fact that it has surrendered only two goals again. Argentina, Canada’s fiercest competition at the Pan Ams has scored 22 and let in four.
The winner of the Canada-Trinidad and Tobago quarterfinal will face the winner of the United States and Brazil match.
STATS: Gabriel Ho-Garcia leads the Canadians with 5 goals scored in three goals. He is two behind Argentinian Gonzalo Peillat, who has scored each of his seven goals on the penalty corner
