March 08, 2008

Second Page in Ostersund: Scotland in Final

Eve versus Lucy! The winner goes to the final (and is guaranteed at least a silver medal) and the loser goes to the bronze medal game. The stage was set for the semifinal of the World Junior Curling Championship at Ostersund. Eve Muirhead, Kerry Barr and Sarah Macintyre had Kay Adams in again at second for this game.

There was nothing between the teams for the first half of the game and they went into the break with Scotland 3-2 ahead.

Everything went wrong in the sixth. The Russians lay four. Eve could only remove one with her first and was facing four again when she had to play her last stone of the end. There were no easy options. She opted for the raise takeout, and made the shot. But Liudmila Privivkova had a possibility to score big, but she jammed the Scottish stone on to backing, and we all breathed a sigh of relief! Scotland could have lost four, but instead the Muirhead side stole a single and were 4-2 up.

The Scots came out firing in the seventh and Privivkova had to draw to the button for a single. Our girls were just perfect in the eighth and Eve finished it off with a tap back for a three, and a 7-3 lead. The Russians took a single in the ninth and we were three up coming home with the hammer. Still, Eve had to play her last stone. But she had a big target and halfway down the ice, with the front end just keeping it clean, Eve knew that she and her team would be bringing home a medal.

What colour will it be? Silver or Gold? The final tomorrow will be Scotland v Sweden!

In the men's semifinal, USA were one up coming home without the hammer. They chose the option of trying to steal. Chris Plys' guard with his last stone left the narrowest of ports, but William Dion's takeout failed to get through the hole. USA was in the final against Sweden, Canada was in the bronze medal game against Norway.

You can find the linescores at www.curlingkanalen.se. The WCF reports are here.

Apologies for the lack of pics. I had technical problems earlier with uploading them. Hopefully you will be able to see them later!

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