United States of America and Canada complete women’s semi-finals line-up at Olympic Winter Games

It took all the way to an extra end, but United States of America skip Tabitha Peterson finally delivered the draw for one point that gave her team victory over Switzerland in Friday afternoon’s twelfth — and last — women’s round-robin session.

Not only did Peterson deliver a 7-6 win, she also sealed a place in the semi-finals, for only the second time by a female American team.

In the other game that would determine a semi-final place, Canada beat Republic of Korea by 10-7.

In their game against Switzerland, the Americans blanked the first end and then opened the scoring with a single point in the second, when Peterson drew her final effort inside two Swiss stones in counting positions. Switzerland levelled in the third end at 1-1 when their fourth player Alina Paetz played a tap-back. United States of America scored one more in the fourth end and stole one in the fifth end to go into the break holding a 3-1 lead.

Team United States of America © World Curling / Celine Stucki

In the sixth, Switzerland scored one through a tap-back by Paetz to reduce the American lead to 3-2, but the Americans made a break-through in the seventh end, when Peterson played a take-out to score two points and increase her team’s lead to 5-2.

The teams swapped singles in the eighth and ninth ends, for 6-3, and, in the tenth, Switzerland’s Paetz carved out three points with a raise take-out to level the score at 6-6 and force the extra end.

Silvana Tirinzoni, Switzerland © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

In that end, the Americans kept control, to eventually leave Peterson with a draw inside three Swiss stones to score one point for the 7-6 win. This win puts her team into the semi-finals, where they will face Switzerland again.

Afterwards, a beaming Tabitha Peterson said, “I’m excited! We’re in the semi-finals at the Olympics — you can’t beat that!”

And she continued, “It’s huge because we’ve never been in this position before. The Olympic Games are a whole other animal, anything’s possible, so you’ve just got to keep believing in yourself, keep focussing on making the good shots, and winning games. Hopefully the cards fall on the right side for you and they have for us.”

Tabitha Peterson, United States of America © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Speaking about the Swiss recovery for the three in the tenth end that forced the extra end, she added, “We got a little bit defensive in ten but three’s better than four, so I’ll take hammer in the extra end any day.”

More generally, she added, “I think we’ve really come together as a unit and learned a lot from every game whether it was a win or a loss. I’m really proud of how many shots they’re making and how we’re sweeping. There’s lots and lots of good things going on out there, so it’s really special and we’re really grateful that we get to play two more games.”

Taylor Anderson-Heide, United States of America © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

In this session, Canada faced Republic of Korea, with both teams knowing that only the winner would progress to the semi-finals.

Canada opened with a score of one and then stole another single point in the second end, when Korean skip Gim Eunji’s attempted clear-out left one Canadian stone counting.

In the third end, Korea scored three points, to take a 3-2 lead, but Canada responded with a score of two points in the fourth end, to re-take the lead at 4-3.

Rachel Homan, Canada © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

In the fifth end Korea levelled the game at 4-4 with a single point score, but the game changed in the sixth when the last stone by Korea’s Gim Eunji just caught another on the way in, leaving Canada skip Rachel Homan with a simple task to draw for four points and take an 8-4 lead.

In the seventh end, Korea’s Gim found herself facing four Canadian stones when she played her final draw, to score one point and reduce the Canadian lead to 8-5. In the eighth end, it was Canada’s Homan’s turn to face four opposition stones with her last, and once again she drew successfully to score one point and increase her lead to 9-5.

Gim Eunji, Republic of Korea © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Republic of Korea managed to score two points in the ninth, to reduce the Canadian lead to 9-7, but in the tenth, Canada’s Homan had a hit for one point and a 10-7 win that puts her team into the fourth semi-final place. They will face round-robin leaders Sweden, who did not play in this session.

Afterwards, Homan said, “Obviously I’m just really proud of our team. Everybody worked hard to get us into this position. We just try to take it one game at a time and not look too far ahead, because we have it under control.

“I think we made some phenomenal shots through the line-up — it wasn’t just me. I think we had some huge sweeps, some huge line calls, so yeah, I’m just super proud of my team for making those shots.”

She added, “It’s a tough field, everyone’s gunning for you and you have to bring your best every single time or it’s going to be a loss.”

Emma Miskew and Rachel Homan, Canada © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

This result means that Republic of Korea finished in fifth place.

In the other games of this session, Great Britain beat hosts Italy by 7-4 to finish sixth, while the Italians were ninth.

Jennifer Dodds and Sophie Sinclair, Great Britain © World Curling / Celine Stucki

Japan beat People’s Republic of China by 9-6 to rank eighth, while the Chinese finished tenth. Denmark, who sat out this session, finished seventh overall.

Find the women’s play-offs bracket here.

Find the final round robin standings here.

Find the full women’s team curling schedule and results here.

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