The dominance of Argentina in women’s field hockey in the Pan American Zone has been comprehensive, even to the point of keeping the U.S. off the top of the medal stand at the junior levels.
Indeed, the only time the United States had ever won the Women’s Pan-Am Junior Championship was in 2008, when the States didn’t even need to win to make it to the next Junior World Cup, since the States were the host. That was a team led by Katie O’Donnell and Melissa Gonzalez, and the game-winner in overtime was scored by Camille Ghandi, a player who honed her skills in her native England.
But this young and quality U.S. junior national team has a lot of players who are proven scorers. Head coach Tracy Paul was able to trot out Ryleigh Heck, Lauren Wadas, Abigail Tamer, and Regan Underwood for the shootouts, and all four did their jobs. It was too much for Argentina, who could get only one shootout attempt by Annabel Skubicz.
Argentina, the United States, and Chile (the host), and Canada (taking the last qualifying slot allotted from the moat recent JWC) now qualify for the 2023 edition, which is scheduled for the first two weeks of December.
This win is a significant one for the States, and will have American fans dreaming of perhaps a podium finish; the American junior have never finished higher than seventh at the world tournament.
TopOfTheCircle.com 
I have to think that the games against the junior USMNT helped.