U.S. Curling Mixed Doubles Team Advances to The Gold Medal Game, Defeats Italy on Final End

A badly timed throw by Italy, and a well Thown Stone by the USA Puts them in the Gold Medal Game

Cortina Bay, ITA-After losing to team Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner in the final round robin game, Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin prepared for the nightcap to face them again for a chance at the Gold Medal Game. After another long and grueling eight ends of pressure curling, Team USA made it count on the hammer as they defeated Italy by a final score of nine to eight

Overview

From the start, this semi-final match had tons of mental toughness and strategy that either executed very well, or the final product fell flat at the wrong time. When the shots were executed properly, excitement was loud; when they weren’t, disappointment was on the faces of the curlers. Both teams earned two points respectively in the first two ends of the match. Italy took the lead back in the third with another two-pointer until the fourth end came.

With three stones inside the button and on the four foot, Italy tried to knock out as many stones as possible to give the USA nothing, or reduce the amount of points conceded towards one or two. But Italy’s fifth stone missed everything, and that gave Thiesse the chance to throw the hammer down, allowing Dropkin to sweep it toward the button. It curled inside, and another three-point end for the USA to take the lead at five to four.

Italy tied it up in the fifth end for a point, then the USA got another two points in the 6th end. In the seventh, Italy took advantage of a missed opportunity for the USA to grab points and had three stones across the middle of the house from end to end and reclaimed the lead at eight to seven. But big mistakes cost Italy the chance to return to the Gold Medal Game.

The USA chose its power play on the eighth and final end. Mosaner on the second stone threw it down the sheet and missed all the stones down the left side. That gave Team USA the chance to fill up the button and the left side with the rest of their stones. On Italy’s 5th stone, they were trying to force two stones to leave, but only got one. That’s when Thiesse gave a great throw on the hammer while Dropkin swept, and it cleared the last stone of Italy, recoiled a bit back, but never cleared out their own.

When the hammer stopped moving, Thiesse and Dropkin celebrated and gave a big yell at the Curling House as they were moving on to the Gold Medal Game, where Sweden upset Great Britain in their Semi-Final match by a final of nine to three with an amazing five points in the sixth end and forcing the Brits to concede after the seventh end.

“Those are the reigning Olympic champions and the reigning world champs. So that’s a great team. And I took everything. We were gritty. It was an awesome atmosphere out there. The Italian crowd, the U. S. crowd, and everyone are just blasting this venue. Cheers, we loved it. You know, ate it all up. It was, it was wonderful.

We just kept making shots, countering their makes, and you know, we got a big opportunity in that sixth end. And my all-star here capitalized, and my gosh, what a what a day! We’re going for gold. Yes, you are. And a big part of that is due to what you did there in the eighth end,” said Korey Dropkin

The match will be on Tuesday, February 10th at Noon Eastern, 9 AM Pacific, live on USA Network and streaming on NBC’s Peacock App or Website.

Olympic Curling News:

• U.S. Curling Mixed Doubles Fall to Italy on Final Day of Round Robin Play
• U.S. Curling Mixed Doubles Makes History Qualifying for the Semi-Finals edging Sweden
• U.S. Curling Mixed Doubles Back in the Win Column. Poor Execution From Estonia Late
• U.S. Curling Mixed Doubles force an extra end, but still Falls to South Korea

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