US Rises and Falls to the Occasion in Final Round Robin

Written By Matthew Gephart

SOCHI, Russia – The final day for Round Robin Sessions has come for the US Team, who is in search of a win to get themselves into a medal contention spot in the finals.  They find themselves up against the Great Britain Team who is in the same boat for contention, tied with the record of 4-3.

Starting off the session well, the US Team was able to gain the hammer for the first end and not only score, but score two points, passing the hammer to the Brits with a lead in hand.  The US was also able to take away a point in the second end against Great Britain and increase their lead to three right out of the gates for the session.

Gaining the hammer back for the third end, the US was unable to score allowing Great Britain to take a point back from the previous ends and bring the score to 3-1 and back within reach.

The fourth end allowed the US Team to score another two points and again take a commanding lead against Great Britain bringing the score to 5-1.

After a give and take of one point each in the fifth and sixth ends, going into the seventh end things were still looking bright for the US Team despite missing a few opportunities to extend the lead.  The US missed six shots in a row though during the seventh end and gave Great Britain a chance to open end a five point play in the house.  Great Britain did not miss and took the lead after the seventh end, scoring five points and setting the score at 7-6 going into the final end of the session.

After a disappointed seventh end, and multiple missed opportunities to keep Great Britain from scoring, the US Team did not let that discourage them while playing the final end.  Despite not having the hammer as well, the US played their toughest end yet finding themselves on the last throw by Skip Patrick McDonald in need of a tricky shot to takeout the Great Britain stone sitting in the house.  After a nerve wracking setup and final toss, the US found themselves tied for the session and going into extra ends for a chance to make a final spot in the medal contentions.

Overtime was not as favorable for the US Team once again, where they did not have the hammer, and missed quite a few opportunities to place stones in the house.  The US Team sailed a few shots, putting too much weight on the throw and missed the house going right over the button.  These did not stand well for the team as they went ahead to lose to the Brits on the final toss of the extra end, where they were handed an easy open shot to place a stone and win the end, solidifying a place in the final sessions.

Although the US was not officially out of the running for a spot in the final, they would have needed both the Slovakian Team and the Chinese Team to lose in the later session of the day.

While the Slovakians lost to the Russian Team, Great Britain allowed the Chinese Team to win their session, putting China into the final medal contention spot instead of the US and finalizing the US’s chance at making it to the gold session later in the weekend.