Swallows went a goal up only to have to settle for a 1-1 draw in their opening contest in the Pan American Hockey Championships in Barbados at the weekend.

Bermuda's women's champions took the lead against St. Andrew of Jamaica through captain Liz Osborne.

"I scored in the first minute and a half," said Osborne. "I got a breakaway and took it from there. I got it round a few people and had a one on one with the `keeper and managed to slip it past her."

It was backs to the wall for the rest of the game though.

"I think we spent a lot of time defending against them," said Osborne. "All in all they were probably a stronger side than us but we had a great defensive line in Sam Adams, Sarah Fenwick and Trish Lorimer and they did a great job in keeping them at bay."

Swallows kept the Jamaicans out until 10 minutes into the second half.

"They got a short corner and scored off that," Osborne said. The Bermudian side are in a pool of six teams who all play each other once. They were due to play Argentina in their second match last night.

On Saturday, Uruguay played Barbados and emerged victorious 4-1.

Bermuda's male representatives, the Chameleons, crashed to a 7-0 defeat in their opening encounter against the Guyanese champions.

The men are split into two groups of four teams. Chameleons play the Barbadian representatives later today.