It’s hard to beat perfection, and even harder to beat a world-class team two days in row.
In the semifinals of the women’s curling tournament at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday, Switzerland’s Alina Patz shot 100 percent on draw shots, 98 percent on takeouts, and 99 percent on game shots, and her near perfect play was too good for Team USA to overcome.
Patz led her team to a 7-4 victory over the U.S. to advance to the gold medal game and force the U.S. to play for bronze.
Patz’s precision was on display best in the 10th end. The U.S. was trailing by one and needing a steal, and they sat a single shot rock alone in the four-foot. With Tabitha Peterson’s final throw, she tried to set a guard high on the T-Line, but it overcurled by about half a rock, leaving the slightest opening to that shot stone for Patz.
The Swiss vice-skip threw one that followed the line through the two guards and met the shot stone inside, taking it out for two and ultimately the win.
“Just such a relief. So many happy feelings, overwhelming emotions,” Patz said. “But I felt quite confident playing that last rock because I saw that it was something we have played a couple times. Just a relief.”
Patz had 13 takeouts in the game. Her teammates Carole Howard and skip Silvana Tirinzoni had 17 and 16. The Swiss squad had 48 takeouts to just 25 for Team USA. They shot 90 percent on takeout attempts, and 85 percent on all shots in the win.
Team USA shot 82 percent on the day, including 71 percent on takeouts and 86 percent on draws.
The U.S. was playing in the women’s curling semifinals for the first time since 2002. They’ve never won an Olympic curling medal.
“You kind of have to look at it as a whole, not just this one game,” Peterson said. “We still have a big game tomorrow, so there’s lots to learn from every game. So we’ll have a good debrief and rest, maybe go visit our families a little bit and then regroup and follow our routine for tomorrow.”
Switzerland seemed to be in control the whole night, even if they weren’t able to build a big lead to show for it.
Peterson’s team drew for one in the first, which would become a theme throughout the night. They never scored more than a single point in any end.
Switzerland scored two in the second and two more in the fourth, and forced another U.S. single in the fifth. They went into the half up, 4-3.
The Swiss blanked the sixth end, which looked like it could be good for Team USA. But Tirinzoni’s team blanked again in the seventh after the skip saw two U.S. stones sitting in the back of the four-foot and took them both out with one throw midway through. Switzerland kept the house clear for the remaining stones, and took the hammer again into the eighth.
They used that hammer to add another single in the eighth and go up by two.
Desperate for points late in the ninth, the U.S. sat shot-rock inside and could have opted to just draw to the button for two to even the score. Peterson, instead, wanted to try to take the lead.
With a rock sitting just inches away from the side wall, Peterson attempted to use that stone to roll back her throw, hoping it would go inside and eliminate Switzerland’s only rock in the four-foot. If played right, it would have given the U.S. three.
Instead, the throw was just too thin, and didn’t even make it back to the house. Team USA was forced again to take just one, which is why they went into the 10th trailing, 5-4.
“We’re proud of how we battled back in a second half of that game. We definitely got outplayed in the first half, so we kind of had to itch and scratch to find any type of points,” Peterson said. “So, we’re proud with how we played in the second half and make them throw their last shot.”
United States (4)
Switzerland (7)
1
1st end
0
0
2nd end
2
1
3rd end
0
0
4th end
2
1
5th end
0
0
6th end
0
0
7th end
0
0
8th end
1
1
9th end
0
0
10th end
2