Saturday, 24th of March 2018

2018 World Women’s Curling Championships latest

The final day of the round robin stage of the World Women’s Curling Championships was possibly the hardest day for Team Scotland, having to play the Olympic Champions and the Olympic Silver Medalists, Sweden and Korea.  Fearless and well disciplined, the team led by Hannah Fleming (skip), with Jennifer Dodds, Alice Spence and Vicky Wright made a great finish to the week, in their first World Women’s Championships.

In the penultimate game against Sweden, our team came out of the blocks in great form, stealing 1 in the first and 3 in the second end and they kept up the pressure throughout retaining the lead to the end. Final score 8-5.

The last game was against the Olympic team from Korea and the teams seemed very similar as the game proceeded, until the Scots stole singles in the 7th and 8th ends. Korea came back in to the game with a steal in the tenth to level the score at 5-5.  This gave Scotland the hammer in the extra end and a draw to the button with her final shot gave Scotland the win, with the  final score 6-5.

This final day rounded off the week pretty well and will give the team confidence for the next time they take to the world stage.

 

Day 6

Team Scotland started slowly, giving up a steal of 2 to Denmark but bouncing back with a 2 to even the score in the second.   You could feel the intensity and pressure increase as the game progressed, as both teams kept the scoreboard ticking over to be tied 5-5 after 7 ends. Denmark were one down with hammer in the tenth and with an open draw managed a 2 to win the game.  DEN 8 – 7 SCO.

The final two games in the round robin for Scotland are against the Olympic gold and silver medallists, Sweden at 18:00 and Korea at 23:00 (GMT).

Day 5

The Scottish Women faced Japan in their eighth game on Wednesday morning in North Bay, Canada.  Scotland led from the start, notching up 2 in the first end with the hammer. Steals in ends 4 and 5 kept Scotland in the lead and a 3 for Japan in the sixth closed the gap to make the game competitive with score 6-5.  Scotland’s steal of 3 in the eighth was followed by 2 for Japan in the ninth and they conceded at that point.  SCO 10 JPN 7.

Game nine for Scotland was against China, who were only one win ahead of our team.  Scotland took the initiative early with good tactical play creating steals in the first two ends. China responded with a 3 in the third, but they gave up a steal of 3 in the fifth to give Scotland a 6-3 lead at the break. A steal of 2 in the seventh levelled the scores and with pressure on, the Scottish team held their nerve for the win SCO 8  CHN 7.

Tuesday saw Scotland secure their first victory, beating Germany 8-5 in the morning game.  This was a strong performance by Hannah Fleming and her team Jennifer Dodds, Alice Spence and Vicky Wright.  They controlled the game and managed to steal points in ends 3, 4, and 5, evetually running Germany out of stones in the tenth end.

In the evening game, Scotland took the host nation to the tenth end in a close encounter that ended 8-6 to Canada.

The team had the belief in themselves with their potential they could carry the performance from previous game to challenge Canada and this they did.  To play a team as experienced as past world and Olympic champions to a last end proves they can challenge. We had momentum and opportunities to win for sure.

Coach Nancy Smith said: “I am very proud of this team and how they can produce the goods against a host nation at their first major world championship.  They continue be professional and have a great attitude to take every learning opportunity out of this fantastic experience they earned.

On Monday afternoon Scotland’s women lost to Czech Replublic 11-4 in seven ends.  The Czech’s got off to a great start scoring 4 in the first end and stealing 2 in the second end. Scotland bounced back with a 3 in the third and looked upbeat but unfortunately not for long.

In their fifth game against the Swiss skipped by Feltcher, Scotland started well by securing hammer in the first end, which was blanked and followed by a single in the second. The Swiss scored 3 in the third and stole 3 in the fifth.  A four for Switzerland in the seventh sealed the game and gave an early finish.

Scotland’s women have yet to find the form that led them to win the World Playoff in Perth at the start of the month and the Scottish Championship in February.  The next opponent is Germany on Tuesday at 13:00 GMT, also looking for their first win of the championship.

Day 2 at the WWCC 2018

In their second game Scotland faced Italy in a game that went to an extra end.

Having forced a blank in the first end, Scotland managed to steal a single in the second.  The teams traded 2’s till the fifth end break with Italy ahead 4-3.  The Scots kept the pressure on with a single and two steals of one each, then Italy did the same by scoring 1, then stealing one in the tenth and extra ends to win 7-6.

(Photo:WCF/CCA Mike Burns)

In their third game at the World Women’s Curling Championships, Scotland’s women suffered a defeat to USA 8-6. The teams were pretty evenly matched but the fifth end saw USA score three points, so went into the break 5-3 up.  Scotland never managed to close the gap and so lost by two points.

Team Scotland have a break now, till Monday afternoon (6pm GMT) when they face Czech Republic in their fourth game of 12, looking for a win.

Day 1 at the WWCC 2018

Saturday 17 March saw Team Scotland in action in North Bay for the first time this year.  The first game was Russia skipped by Moiseeva.  Scotland did well to force Russia to a single then take the lead with a 2.  The Russians came back with a 2 and then forced a single, before scoring 2 in the fifth to take the lead 5-3.  The Russian team managed to control the second half and final score was 8-4 to Russia.

World Women’s Curling Championships, North Bay, Canada

17-25 March 2018

In the new 13 team format, the top women’s national teams from around the world will be curling over nine days in the remote town of North Bay, Ontario.  The teams come from Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and United States.

Scotland is represented by Hannah Fleming, Jennifer Dodds, Alice Spence, Vicky Wright and alternate Sophie Jackson.  They are coached by Nancy Smith, with Tony Zummack on the bench as Head Coach.  Team Fleming won the Scottish Curling Women’s Championship in February and then went on to beat Team Muirhead 2-0 in early March at the World Playoff Championship to earn their place at the Worlds.

For details about the event, including the schedule, see: www.worldcurling.org/wwcc2018

(Photo: WCF/Jeffrey Au)