MILAN, Italy – The United States women’s curling team secured a dramatic 6-5 comeback victory over China on Sunday at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, stealing points in the final two ends to clinch the win. The victory, achieved after falling behind 4-1, adds another notable result to a strong start for the American team in Italy.
Trailing by three points after the fifth end, the U.S. Team, comprised of Tabitha Peterson, Cory Thiesse, Tara Peterson, and Taylor Anderson-Heide, began to mount a rally. They narrowed the gap to 4-3 with a 2-0 win in the sixth end. China responded by extending their lead to 5-3, setting the stage for a tense finish.
The turning point came in the ninth end when a missed attempt by China’s Rui Wang to remove a U.S. Stone allowed Team USA to steal a point, tying the match at 5-5. The tenth and final end proved decisive, with the U.S. Capitalizing on another opportunity to steal the point and secure the 6-5 victory.
“We just had to stick with it,” said Tara Peterson, the team’s skip. “We had a good team meeting at the fifth end break of what we needed to do to flip it around for us for the second half, and we got more energy and our draw speed got a little bit better, and we kind of kept the pressure on them to make some tough shots.”
This win follows an opening day split for the Americans, which included an 8-4 victory over South Korea and a 9-4 loss to Sweden. Notably, the U.S. Women’s curling team achieved a historic first on Friday, defeating Canada 9-8 in a round robin match – a feat they had never accomplished in Olympic competition. Taylor Anderson-Heide remarked after the Canada win, “Apparently, we’ve never beat them in the Olympics before. That makes it just extra special.”
The U.S. Men’s team previously broke a similar drought, defeating Canada for the first time in the 2018 round-robin and again in the semifinals en route to a gold medal victory in Pyeongchang.
Team USA continues round-robin play with three matches remaining. The team’s next opponent and schedule have not been announced.
