Homan remains undefeated with 10-6 win over U.S. at women’s curling worlds

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This article was published 17/03/2024 (926 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SYDNEY, N.S. – Rachel Homan improved to 3-0 at the world women’s curling championship with a 10-6 victory over the United States’ Tabitha Peterson on Sunday.

Canada entered the contest having earned 7-6 and 7-4 victories over Sweden and Denmark on Saturday’s first day of action. Homan’s rink is one of three teams that remain undefeated, with Italy and Switzerland each at 3-0.

“I think we’re gelling together and we’re at our top performance with team cohesion and communication,” Homan said after the game.

“There’s going to be misses as we learn the sheets. It’s tough to play 100 per cent throughout this amazing field, so it’s feeling really good and we’ve got to keep going.”

Sitting atop the tournament leaderboard, the Canadians will look to make it four straight victories when they play Marianne Roervik’s Norway squad on Monday.

“I don’t think anyone could walk through a field like this, just phenomenal teams and athletes, and all the countries’ resources poured into it,” Homan said. “It’s a really great feeling to be able to battle with the best out here and we hope to make Canada proud.”

Without last rock for the first time in the tournament, the Canadians found themselves on their heels early on with the U.S. scoring a double in the first end to go up 2-0. It was the first double Homan’s rink surrendered, and the first time it had trailed in a game at any point in the event.

That lead didn’t last long, though, as Canada took advantage of its first hammer of the game in the second end to thread the rock through a busy right side of the sheet to nudge the U.S. out of the eight and score a double of its own, tying the game at 2-2.

The third end saw the U.S. answer right back, as Peterson perfectly executed a hammer throw while facing two to sneak her stone into the button and earn a single.

But Canada came rolling back to restore its lead in the fourth end. Taking advantage of a miscue from the U.S., Canada used a perfectly thrown hammer to knock the Americans’ rock completely out of the house and earn a double to flip the score back in its favour at 4-3.

The fifth end brought the fireworks, as a gutsy throw by Homan to set Canada up for another double was undone by a hammer from Peterson with just the right touch on it, sneaking past Canada’s rocks and landing directly into the button for a single.

After it appeared that Canada would only exit the sixth with a single after some smart placement by the Americans, Homan knocked the U.S. out of the house, earning Canada a sorely needed double that put them back ahead 6-4.

The Americans rebounded swiftly in the seventh, as a measurement awarded them a double and sent both teams to the eighth deadlocked at 6-6.

Canada then blew the game open with a triple to earn its biggest lead of the day at 9-6. After Canada managed its first steal of the game in the ninth, the Americans could not respond, conceding the game.

“We played really good and kept the pressure on them,” Peterson said. “They didn’t really let up and we had a couple of misses late in the game, and it just tipped their way more.”

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In Sunday’s evening draw, Peterson rebounded to beat Norway 7-5, Denmark edged Japan 6-5, Switzerlands rocked Estonia 9-3 in six ends, and Italy beat Scotland 8-2 in eight ends.

Round-robin play will run through March 22 and the top six of 13 teams will advance to the playoffs. There will be no tiebreakers, so ties for playoff spots will be broken based on head-to-head results.

The top two teams from round-robin play will be seeded directly into the semifinals on March 23. The third-place team will play the sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games that morning.

The winners of the qualifying-round games will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal losers will play for bronze the morning of March 24, while the winners play in the gold-medal game that evening.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2024.