United States

Women's Curling Day 2: Team USA Gets Big Win Over Great Britain, Falls to Switzerland

Team USA stands at 1-2 in round robin play

After dropping its first match to open tournament action, the United States women’s curling team split a pair of games in day two of round robin play.

Team USA’s record currently stands at 1-2 with six games remaining on its schedule.

Full coverage of both the United States’ day two matchups is below: 

Session Two

Switzerland 6, United States 5

The United States bid to pick up two straight wins came up just short Thursday morning.

Switzerland was the first team to get on the scoreboard, as it tallied two points in the second frame after a scoreless first. Team USA answered with a score in the third to cut its deficit to one.

But, Switzerland picked up a single score in the fourth and followed with a steal of two points in the next end to take a commanding 5-1 advantage.

The United States pulled within one when it scored twice in the seventh and added another point in eighth.

After Switzerland registered a point in the ninth to push its lead to two, the United States had a chance to tie the score in the final frame. The U.S., however, came up one point short in the 10th end as Switzerland held on for the win.

Switzerland moved to 1-1 in round robin play with the win. 

Session One

United States 7, Great Britain 4

If the U.S. women were going to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Japan, they would have to go through a juggernaut to do it.

Team USA’s team, led by Skip Nina Roth, took on medal favorites Great Britain, skipped by Eve Muirhead who was on the Britain team that won bronze in Sochi in 2014.

It took some risks, but in the end the U.S. was able to put points on the board when they needed to to come away with a 7-4 victory.

"We were a lot sharper out there today,” U.S. third Tabitha Peterson told reporters. “It was pretty close, I felt like we were in control for most of the game. There was only really one end, the ninth end, where we were forced to one that I felt we weren’t in control. But the rest of the ends, I wasn’t worried. We missed a few shots here and there, but so did they. It was pretty even. But, we had that one-point advantage and it’s nice to have that. Also, staying level headed out there and trusting the ice and your weights that you’ve been throwing all game.”

Britain was able to score the first point with a takeout by Muirhead on the hammer in the first end. After a blanked second, the U.S. responded in the third when Nina Roth’s hammer throw landed on a wide-open button to score two for the Americans and take their first lead of the tournament.

Muirhead’s team didn’t stay down for long though, scoring two of their own in the fourth.

The U.S. had a chance to tie the score just before the fifth end break. Neither team had a stone in the house, but instead of taking the single point, Roth opted to throw through the house in order to maintain the hammer in the sixth end.

The risk paid off, as Roth was able to land her hammer throw in the sixth just on the back edge of the house for two points and the regained lead, 4-3, allowing Roth to let out a big sigh of relief on the ice.

Muirhead had another takeout in the eighth to tie the score at 4-4, and had a chance at the lead in the ninth after a double takeout by the skip. Roth responded though by getting a takeout of her own for a point and the U.S. lead heading into the final end.

The U.S. had two stones just on the outside of the button with Britain’s hammer throw coming, but Muirhead’s throw went wide of the button and through the house to give Roth’s team the win.

Muirhead's team scored just one point over the final six ends.

Roth shot 88 percent in the game, nearly double her tournament worst 49 percent from the previous game. 

The U.S. secures their first victory in PyeongChang after falling to Japan Tuesday night. Even though the Americans fell behing 7-0 early to Japan, Peterson said the team didn't do anything different heading into Wednesday, and were relaxed overall, making it easy to shake off the loss.

“Honestly, we did the same old thing," Peterson said. "We were on a binge watch of ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix. So, we watched a few of those and all hung together and got a good night’s sleep."

Roth and company improve to 1-1 overall. Britain falls to 1-1 with eight games remaining.

USA   0    0    2    0    0    2    0    0    1    2 - 7
GBR  1    0    0    2    0    0    0    1    0    0 - 4

Here are the results of every other matchup from day two of the women’s tournament. 

Session Two

Sweden 7, Canada 6 (11 ends)

Tournament favorite Canada has now opened round robin play with back-to-back losses.

Sweden jumped out to an early two-point lead before Canada tied the score with two points in the third end.

The teams traded scores over the next two frames before Sweden tacked on two more in the sixth. Canada registered a point each in the seventh and eighth ends to tie the score before Sweden re-took the advantage with a point in the ninth.

The Canadians fought off defeat with a point in the 10th to send the game to extra ends. But, in the 11th, Sweden ended the match with a point to bring home a win. 

Sweden improved to 2-0 with the win. Canada was upset by host South Korea in its tournament opener. 

Japan 7. South Korea 5

South Korea, which received an automatic bid into the Olympic tournament, had a chance to open round robin play with two straight victories. The host country came up just short.

Japan struck first with a point in the opening end, but South Korea quickly answered with two of its own in the next frame.

South Korea then added points in the fourth, sixth and seventh to push its advantage to 5-3 with two ends to play.

South Korea, however, failed to hold on to the lead. Japan scored in three straight ends, including a point in the 10th, to capture the victory.

The win was Japan’s third straight to open round robin play, while the host country fell to 1-1. 

Great Britain 8, China 7 (11 ends)

Great Britain and China entered the game with identical 1-1 records in round-robin play. The teams played evenly throughout the match.

The score was tied at five with three ends to play. China took a lead in the eighth before Great Britain swung the scoreboard back in its favor with two points in the next frame.

Great Britain, however, failed to close out the game in the 10th as China tallied a point. But, one frame later, Great Britain ended the game with an extra-end score.

Great Britain now holds a 2-1 record, while China falls to 1-2

Session One 

Every game Wednesday night at one point had scores of 4-3, and each one stayed just as close through, with Korea, Japan and the OAR all coming away with victories.

Japan 8, Denmark 5

After Japan jumped out to a 3-0 lead, Denmark tried to make a game of it, scoring three in the fourth end. But the Japanese team, skipped by Satsuki Fujisawa, went out to outscore the Dutch 5-2 over the final four ends to come away with an 8-5 victory in nine ends.

Japan scored three points in the seventh, and two in each of the second and eighth.

Denmark’s only big end was the fourth, when Madeleine Dupont’s throw had a ricochet takeout for three points. However, they scored just single points in the sixth and ninth ends the rest of the way.

DEN  0    0    0    3    0    1    0    0    1    X – 5
JPN   0    2    1    0    0    0    3    2    0    X – 8

Korea 8, Canada 6

Korea delighted their home fans in their first game of the PyeongChang Games with a huge 8-6 win over No. 1 ranked Canada.

Korea, an automatic qualifier into the Games, proved they could be a team to be reckoned with against the defending Gold Medalists and World Champions. They held Canada to just one point in the first five ends, while taking a 4-1 lead into the break as the home fans cheered throughout the Gangneung Curling Centre.

Canada didn’t let up, scoring two in the sixth and stealing another in the seventh. But after Korea settled for just one point in the eighth, they put the game away for good in the ninth, with Canada missing a takeout, giving Korea three stolen points and an 8-4 lead Canada wouldn’t overcome.

Canada had a chance at three in the 10th, but Kim came away with a takeout on Korea’s final throw to hold Canada to just two.

CAN   0    1    0    0    0    2    1    0    0    2 – 6
KOR   1    0    0    1    2    0    0    1    3    0 – 8

Team OAR 7, China 6 (11 ends)

It came down to the final throw, but in the end Russia was able to secure an extra end victory over China 7-6.

The two teams went back-and-forth throughout the game, and tied three times in regulation. OAR forced an extra end after scoring two in the 10th to tie the score at 6-6. Japan's final throw in the 11th sailed through the house for the OAR victory.

CHN   0    2    1    0    0    1    0    2    0    0    0 – 6
OAR   1    0    0    2    0    0    1    0    0    2    1 – 7
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