Jamaica’s senior Reggae Girlz ended Group A play at the 18th Pan American Games without a win after being condemned to a third-consecutive defeat by Paraguay at Estadio Universidad San Marcos in Lima, Peru, yesterday.

A brace from Jessica Martinez in the 5th and 63rd minutes paved the way for Paraguay, with Dulce Quintana capping off the 3-1 scoreline in the 90+2 minutes.

Jamaica’s goal came from Chanel Hudson-Marks in the 32nd minute.

The defeat saw Hue Menzies’ Reggae Girlz team finishing at the foot of the four-team group and can only hope to salvage some pride from the campaign when they contest the seventh- place play-off against the host nation or Panama on Tuesday.

Paraguay topped the group on seven points and will be joined in the knockout stage by second-placed Colombia on five points, while Mexico ended in third on three points and will play off for fifth place.

Mexico and Colombia had earlier played out a 2-2 stalemate. The Jamaicans were slow out of the blocks and were made to pay the price early when Martinez arrived at the far post to expertly head home a right-sided cross from close range.

After conceding, the Reggae Girlz gradually grew in confidence and pushed back the Paraguay defensive line in good passage of play which later saw them pulling level when Hudson-Marks opened her body and invited a pass from Mireya Grey before finishing with aplomb.

Jamaica had a scare in the 36th minute when Lice Chamorro sent Fanny Godoy on her way in a decent counter, but the latter failed to beat the glove of a well-positioned Sydney Schneider in goal for Jamaica.

Though managing to keep the scores level going into the resumption, the Jamaicans once again found themselves on the back foot when poor defensive work allowed Martinez to comfortably fire home a rebound from close range after the initial effort by Fabiola Sandoval came back off the upright.

And the writing was on the wall when Quintana was allowed too much space to fire home from deep inside the area in time added.

Despite the loss, Reggae Girlz captain Sashana “Pete” Campbell believed the young team’s chemistry is gradually taking shape with each training session and game in the South American nation and will only improve going forward.

“Over time, I think our training sessions have been better and it showed today (yesterday) because we got a goal. The last practice we had was great and I just think as we go forward, we are going to have a better time playing together because it’s a young group so we are all learning about each other and making adjustments. So over time with practice, I think we will do better,” she told the Jamaica Observer in a post-game interview.

“But we have another game, so hopefully we can get three points from that and finish the tournament injury free and then look forward to the (Olympic) qualifiers and just take it from there,” she added.

Meanwhile, goal-scorer Hudson-Marks was delighted in registering her first goal as a member of the senior Reggae Girlz team.

“It feels amazing because I haven’t had many games…I went to the World Cup and didn’t get to play there and I didn’t play in the first game here, but played a little in the second game. So I just wanted to go out there today and show the coaches that I can be out there and play a good game as well,” the Canada-based player shared.

“We have had three games and we haven’t come out with a win yet and we only have one goal. So even though it’s the last game and it’s not really worth a medal, I still think we should go out there and fight as much as we can and at least get a win,” Hudson- Marks added.