University of Maine junior forward Julia Ross and her Canadian teammates captured the gold medal in the Junior Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, by virtue of a 1-0 victory over Uruguay on Saturday.
The Junior Pan Am Games are for athletes ages 17-22.
It is Canada’s first gold medal in field hockey in the Junior Pan Am Games, and the first at any level.
Anna Mollenhauer’s goal off a penalty corner in the 53rd minute decided it.
Canada went undefeated in the tournament with a pool play win over Argentina (1-0) and a 0-0 tie with Uruguay before beating Chile 1-0 in the semifinals and Uruguay in the gold medal game.
Canada advanced to the 16-team Junior World Cup in South Africa in December, its first appearance since 2013.
Ross, who is from Vancouver, British Columbia, has played in 27 games for the Black Bears in her first two seasons and has scored three goals to go with three assists.
She will rejoin her Black Bear teammates this week for their home openers against No. 19 Harvard on Friday at 3 p.m. and Providence on Saturday at 2 p.m.
UMaine is 0-2 after losing road games to No. 7 Boston College and UMass in overtime by identical 3-2 scores this past weekend.