U.S. Women’s Curling Team Falls Flat in Loss to Winless Italy

A flat performance against the Italians

Cortina Bay, ITA- The U.S. Women’s Curling Team came to the Olympic Curling Arena to face a winless Italy side in their first four games of round robin play. When many thought the USA Team would get a big victory, they came out flat and didn’t look like their dominant selves. They failed at the hammer, and they couldn’t get many ends on the scoreboard to threaten the host nation. After conceding in the ninth end, Italy gets their first win of the tournament as it defeated the USA by a final score of seven to two.

Overview

It was a weird match as both teams got started with two consecutive scoreless ends, then Italy got a point in the third end for the early lead. They scored in two more consecutive ends with a two-pointer in the fourth end. Italy had a stone inside the lower right eight-foot, used their last stone to knock out the USA’s stone for two in the four-foot. Then the USA tried to use its hammer, hits one of the two Italian stones inside the four-foot, but the hammer slides all the way to the 12-foot and near the back side. Italy has another stone on the inside of the lower right of the 12-foot. In the fifth end, Italy got a point on their eighth stone when it landed inside the bottom left of the eight-foot. Then Tabitha Peterson’s hammer didn’t have enough speed to completely go through the house to steal a point, and Italy took a four-point lead.

Throughout the entire match, both teams were exchanging points, and Italy kept a three-point lead with a five-to-two lead. During the seventh end, there was a moment of confusion when Team USA played their fifth stone. Taylor Anderson-Heide was sweeping in front of her stone, then her broom got caught in the ice, and the stone struck her broom handle and moved in a different direction. Both teams had a friendly conversation about where to place the stones if that incident didn’t happen. The Sportsmanship between the Italians and the Americans was cordial with each other.

Stefania Constantini took the hammer and was able to knock out the USA stone inside the buttonand as it was pushed toward the lower left of the four-foot. It just traveled a bit further away from the Italian stone on the lower left four-foot for the point. The USA got another point in the eighth end to make it five-to-two. In the ninth end, Italy got a two-pointer, knocking out the USA Stone inside the button, and had a second stone inside the 12-foot, with an edge inside the eight-foot. That forced the USA to concede, and Italy took the victory. A poor performance all night long and only earning two points in nine ends was not the type of match we thought the women were going to get. But right now it’s a three-way tie for second place with South Korea and Switzerland with a 4-2 record.

The USA Women will face Denmark on Tuesday, February 17th.

Olympic Curling News:

• The Curling Controversy Seen Across the World
• U.S. Men’s Curling Team Finds A Way to Save the Win in the Tenth End against Norway
• U.S. Women’s Curling Team Steals Points in Later Ends for the Win
• U.S. Men’s Curling Team Upsets Sweden, Wins in Two Straight

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