Jon Ginofli scored two goals to lead the USA Field Hockey men's national team to a 5-3 victory over host Trinidad & Tobago in game one of a four game series.
The series continues with games 11, 13 and 14 April as both teams prepare for this summer's Pan American Games, 15-29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ginolfi and Binh Hoang (Westlake, Calif.) opened the scoring for the USA in the first half, but Trinidad & Tobago answered with a pair of goals of its own to deadlock the match at 2-2 at halftime.
The USA responded with three second half goals as Ian Scally (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Pat Cota (Camarillo, Calif.) added goals before Ginolfi concluded the USA scoring with his second goal of the game.
The game also marked the first senior international match for the USA's Amrit Ahluwalia (Irvine, Calif.)
At the upcoming Pan Am Games, the USA will begin play as the No. 6 seed and will open the tournament in Pool B with rivals Canada and Chile in addition to the Netherlands Antilles. Defending champion Argentina heads Pool A along with Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba and host Brazil.
The winner of the Pan Am Games earns the continent's automatic berth in the 2008 Olympic Games while teams placing 2nd-5th in the men’s tournament will earn spots in one of three six-team Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in early 2008.
Source: USA Field Hockey
