CurlingZone: Italy make it two straight in front of hometown crowd

It's two in a row for Stefania Constantini (Photo: Anil Mungal) in front of her hometown crowd.

By: Cameron Sallaj

After a disastrous 0-5 start to the women's competition, Stefania Constantini has got the Italian women's team back on track as they record their second straight win of the competition.

On Monday evening, the team of Constantini, Elena Mathis, Marta Lo Deserto and Giulia Zardini Lacedelli were clinical in securing their first win 7-2 over the United States. They then played Japan's Sayaka Yoshimura on Tuesday in a game that saw a less accurate performance.

With both teams shooting a low 76 percent, the game remained close most of the way through. After Italy got three in the fourth to take control, Japan scored three right back to level the score. This back-and-forth continued into the tenth end where the Italians held the last rock in a 6-6 tie.

Facing one buried Japanese counter on her last, Constantini elected for the runback instead of the draw through the port to the four-foot. While a higher degree of difficulty shot, Constantini executed to perfection to score two and take the match 8-6.

It's been an up and down season for the Italian team who once ranked inside the top ten but have now fallen to #32 in the world. An inconsistently rotating lineup coupled with the removal of Angela Romei in place of Rebecca Mariani prior to the Games left a big question mark on the team coming into the week, however, they seem to have settled in to the delight of the hometown crowd.

Also in Draw 9, Canada's Rachel Homan picked up a massive 8-6 win over previously undefeated Sweden to move their record to 4-3. The United States' Tabitha Peterson bounced Denmark 10-3 while Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni overcame Korea 7-5.

Olympic Women's Standings - Draw 9

Q Sweden (Hasselborg): 6-1
United States of America (Peterson): 5-2
Switzerland (Tirinzoni): 5-2
Canada (Homan): 4-3
Republic of Korea (Gim): 4-3
Denmark (Dupont): 3-4
People's Republic of China (Wang): 2-4
Great Britain (Jackson): 2-4
Italy (Constantini): 2-5
Japan (Yoshimura): 1-6

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