Tsawwassen’s Brendan Guraliuk and Sara McManus helped their national field hockey teams to successful results at the recent Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
Competition was held from Oct. 25 to Nov. 4.
The men’s team won a thriller against USA 3-2 to claim the bronze medal.
Guraliuk opened the scoring in the game, banging in a rebound from a penalty corner.
“We had a good bit of pressure at the start. We played really well and get a good feel of the game. To get that first goal and to capitalize early puts us on that front foot for the game,” Guraliuk said. “We wish we were playing for the other medal, but today, when we were a little low, we were able to fight and dig deep and re-build our tempo.”
The mid-fielder now has 31 caps under his belt with the national team.
The squad went 3-0 in pool play with wins over Brazil (2-0), USA (2-1) and Trinidad and Tobago (4-0).
Canada lost 3-2 in penalty shots in the semifinal against Chile who went on to lose the gold medal match to Argentina.
Canada is hoping to keep this momentum going as their continue down the road in qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
On the women’s side, Canada lost 2-0 in the bronze medal game to Chile, while Argentina beat the USA in the gold medal match.
Canada went 2-0-1 in pool play with wins over Cuba (7-1) and Mexico (5-0) with a 2-0 loss to Chile.
McManus, a defender, scored once in the tournament in the win over Mexico.
McManus now has 206 caps under her belt with the national team.
Canada’s fourth-place finish is significant as it propels the squad to the next stage of Olympic qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
