WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
American ladies finish on high note at World Championship
U.S. team finishes sixth to earn valuable Olympic points
By Terry L. Davis, Editor
by Meridian Manufacturing, and aced its exam in earning a 5-4 extra-end win over Sweden to secure important 2018 Olympic Winter Games qualification points. With the victory over Sweden’s Margaretha
T
Sigfridsson rink as the round robin came to a close at the Credit Union iplex, Brown (Oakville, Ontario) and teammates Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Nicole Joraanstad (Verona, Wis.), Natalie Nicholson (Bemidji, Minn.), with alternate Tabitha Peterson (St. Paul, Minn.), fin- ished the round robin with a 6-5 record for sixth place. “We let a couple get away early in the week so
it was nice to come out and finish strong to get wins at the end, especially two wins today,” said Pottinger, who wrapped up her 13th
world cham-
pionship appearance. Te sixth-place finish equates to seven points
toward qualifying the U.S. for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. “We’re really pleased that we had two wins today. We wanted to come out above .500 and that was a really great game. Tat was a fun game to play against a really great team that we’ve met many,
Continued from Page 14
together quickly as a team, so it’s really nice to cap it off. Winning and becoming the Worlds team early, this is like the cherry on top of the whole thing. Winning a national championship never gets old.” Brown’s team represented the U.S. at the 2016 Ford World Women’s
Championship in March in Swiſt Current, Saskatchewan, finishing sixth. “We really wanted to win this championship because even though we sewed up Team USA going to Worlds a couple days ago, it was really important for us to be the national champion representing the United States – it was something we all wanted to do,” Brown said. “For us, that’s the way it’s always been. Team USA is the national champion, and
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usacurl.org ))
eam USA had specific goals to close out the 2016 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship, presented
2016 World Women’s Championship Round robin standings
Switzerland (Binia Feltscher) Japan (Satsuki Fujisawa) Russia (Anna Sidorova) Canada (Chelsea Carey) Scotland (Eve Muirhead) USA (Erika Brown) Korea (Un Chi Gim)
Denmark (Lene Nielsen)
Sweden (Margaretha Sigfridsson) Germany (Daniela Driendl) Finland (Oona Kauste) Italy (Federica Apollonio)
Page 1-2 game: *Switzerland Japan
Page 3-4 game: *Russia Canada
Semifinal: Russia *Japan
USA's Nicole Joraanstad (l-r), Erika Brown and Natalie Nicholson in action during the round rob- in in Swiſt Current.
Photo by Michael Burns Jr.
many times so that was a lot of fun out there,” said Brown. Te USA-Sweden game featuring two veteran
Olympic squads was a close battle throughout with the teams exchanging great hits and draws to hold off the others’ offense. Te turning point for the U.S. came in the eighth end when they capitalized on errors from Sweden to earn a deuce. “We always like to score in the eighth. Tat’s
one of our things as team. When we were able to get a couple around the edges that really helped, momentum-wise,” Pottinger said. In the extra end, great shooting by USA’s front end helped keep the house open and Brown
Gold-medal game: *Switzerland Japan
*last rock in first end
Frances Brodie Sportsmanship Award recipient: Irene Schori, Switzerland
sealed the team’s sixth win with a takeout. “Natalie made a fantastic tick to get us started.
Ten aſter that, keep peeling and working. Nic made that great double to open up the front to- tally for us. Tat was really key,” Pottinger said. Tat paved the way for the U.S. team to make a takeout for the win. Switzerland went on to win its third straight
and fiſth title in five years when Binia Feltscher’s team defeated Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa, 9-6. Rus- sia defeated Canada, 9-8, to secure the bronze medal. Te 2017 World Women’s Championship will take place in Beijing, China. Q
I think we take pride in that. Tat was important for us.” Te win in the gold-medal game at Veterans Memorial Arena was a
battle, however, and went into an extra end against Roth (McFarland, Wis.) and her team of Aileen Sormunen (Duluth, Minn.), Monica Walker (Brighton, Mass.), and Vicky Persinger (Fairbanks, Alaska). “It’s been a long season for us. It’s taken us a little while to gel as a team
so it was really important for us to come into this event and do well,” Walker said. “All of us did really well this week – not just one or two of us and then trying to string shots together – so it was really important for this team to cap off the season and play really well. I definitely feel like we leſt it all out there … and it feels good.” Q
010 010 302 2 – 9 000 102 030 0 – 6
022 010 020 x – 7 000 100 201 x – 4
000 010 200 20 – 5 000 102 011 02 – 7
Bronze-medal game: Canada *Russia
020 002 202 0 – 8 201 110 030 1 – 9
010 010 302 2 – 9 000 102 030 0 – 6
9-2 9-2 8-3 8-3 7-4 6-5 5-6 5-6 4-7 3-8
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