US Field Hockey News

USA Field Hockey Men Top Puerto Rico at Pan Am Cup

LONDON, Ontario – Jarred Martin (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and Shawn Nakamura (Camarillo, Calif.) scored three goals each as the USA men's field hockey topped Puerto Rico, 11-1, at the Pan American Cup at the Univ. of Western Ontario.

With the win, the USA moves to 2-0 at the tournament while Puerto Rico falls to 0-2. The winner of the 12-team tournament earns the continent's automatic berth in the 2006 World Cup in Mönchengladbach, Germany.

The USA jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game on a pair of goals by Ramandeep Sandhu (Camarillo, Calif.). Making only his second tournament appearance with the USA senior team, the 19-year-old Sandhu raised his tournament total to three goals after recording  his first international tally in a 10-1 win over Brazil.

The USA added to its lead on a Nakamura penalty corner at the 15-minute mark before Gurpal Kundi collected his first international goal five minutes later to give the USA a 4-0 advantage.

Martin scored the first of his three goals to give the USA a 5-0 halftime lead and added his second goal two minutes into the second half on a field goal to widen the gap to 6-0.

Pedro Serano put Puerto Rico on the board in the 40th minute but it would be as close as his team would get after USA goalkeeper Jeb Saez (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) swatted away a peanlty stroke opportunity at the 50 minute mark.

Nakamura added two more goals to lift his tournament total to seven, while Danny Jordan (Camarillo, Calif.) collected his first international goal in earning his first senior team cap.

Pat Harris (Moorpark, Calif.) and Martin notched goals in the final 15 minutes to complete the victory.

Following a day off on Friday, the USA returns to action Saturday against Venezuela before taking on tournament favorite Argentina on Sunday.

May 13 at London, Ontario
USA 11, Puerto Rico 1
USA: Ramandeep Sandhu (FG, 6:00)
USA: Ramandeep Sandhu (FG, 8:00)
USA: Shawn Nakamura (PC, 15:00)
USA: Gurpal Kundi (FG, 20:00)
USA: Jarred Martin (FG, 23:00)
USA: Jarred Martin (FG, 37:00)
PUR: Pedro Lastra Serano (PC, 40:00)
USA: Shawn Nakamura (PS, 41:00)
USA: Shawn Nakamura (PC, 47:00)
USA: Danny Jordan (FG, 54:00)
USA: Pat Harris (FG, 55:00)
USA: Jarred Martin (FG, 65:00)

Halftime: USA 5, Puerto Rico 0

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