A plucky Bermuda lost 2-0 to Paraguay in their opening game in the Pan American Challenge at the National Sports Centre on Saturday night.

Goals from Bella Lopez and Abril Sanabria in the first quarter gave Paraguay, which has a population of 6.9 million, a fantastic start and despite Bermuda’s brave efforts they were unable to close the gap.

Bermuda captain LaKae Tavares thought they paid the price for not taking the early chances that they created.

“It was not exactly the result we wanted,” Tavares told The Royal Gazette. “We set out with a game plan to play our style of hockey and I think for the most part we stuck to that. Unfortunately, we didn't finish a lot of our chances.

“There were a lot of opportunities that we didn't put away, but it is one game. We still have other matches to play, so we’re going to learn from our mistakes and then build on it for the rest of the tournament.”

Bermuda dominated their higher-ranked opponents in the first five minutes, coming close to scoring from a couple of short corners.

Paraguay made the most of that letoff when Lopez and Sanabria got the ball behind an impressive Christina Stephens-Weser, who made a number of crucial saves to ensure that Bermuda did not concede any further goals.

“The goals we conceded really came down to man-marking,’’ the Bermuda captain said.

“We didn’t do our job in that aspect in those instances, but we have a very young side. One of our defensive players, Grace Lightowler, is only 15 years old and she joined us very late into our training programme.

“She is still learning a lot, issues like nerves and not knowing what to do in every instance. Paraguay took their opportunities when they had them.

“We still have three tough opponents to play as we go further into the tournament. The benefit for us is that we got all the nerves out of the first game.

“We should be a more prepared for our remaining matches. Even though our opposition can be tougher, we’ll still be in a better position as we move forward.”

Kovin Moodley, the Bermuda coach, also rued the missed goalscoring opportunities.

“We were unlucky at the beginning of the game when we had a couple of short corners,’’ the coach said.

“We put a lot of pressure on the opposition’s D-Zone, and then were unlucky with hitting the post. When the momentum shifted and they had a chance to run at us, I think they were really clinical.

“The caught us on the counter-attack a couple of times, and that resulted in them taking a two-goal lead. We’re going to go over the video of the match, and try to figure out what it is that we need to clean up on our side.

“We’ll also look at Mexico to see if we can produce something a little stronger in the next game.”

Paraguay coach Pablo Mendoza was delighted to get a win with a team dominated by young players.

“What makes me happy is that we had at least eight debutants,” Mendoza said.

“We had many players aged between 15 and 19, so for us to get a victory with such a young team was very important.

“Bermuda presented a very high defence. I think they were really well-packed at the back, and they were dangerous in counter-attack.

“Even though we were leading, we were exposed to their counter-attacks, and that was something for us to take care of.”

Agustina Ramos, one of the Paraguay debutants, credited the team’s victory to great preparation. The 19-year-old represented the South American country at the Women's Hockey 5s World Cup, played in Oman at the beginning of the year.

“This is huge for us and we’re really happy to get the win,’’ she said. “Most our players are juniors, so it is good for us to win with such a young team. “We did the things we worked on in our preparations and we got the result.

“I think all the countries here are tough opponents, but we’re well-prepared to face them. We believe we can deliver a medal for our country.”

Earlier on in the afternoon, a final-quarter goal by Makaylah Poole gave Guyana a 1-0 victory over Brazil in the competition’s opening match.