FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2010

USA to play for bronze at 2010 World Juniors

(STEVENS POINT, Wis.) - USA's Alexandra Carlson team will play for the bronze medal after losing to Sweden, 6-1, in the semifinal this afternoon at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Flims, Switzerland.

Carlson (Wayzata, Minn.) and teammates Tabitha Peterson (Eagan, Minn.), Tara Peterson (Eagan, Minn.), Sophie Brorson (Duluth, Minn.) and Miranda Solem (Cohasset, Minn.) struggled to put points on the scoreboard against Sweden's Anna Hasselborg rink.

"We played pretty well there but we struggled all the way," Carlson said. "We couldn't get anything going; it was all a different ball-game. We were playing fine, but they just hit everything that we put in the house or in play, basically. We just couldn't dominate.  They out-hit us basically."

In her final year of junior eligibility, the Marquette University student is hoping to bring home a medal of a different color now.
"Let's hope it's a bronze medal now," Carlson said. "We're going to get a good night's sleep now, that's about it."

Sweden advances to play Canada in the gold-medal game at 9 a.m. (local time) on Sunday.

Live webstreaming of the games can be found at http://www.worldcurling.org/wjcc-2010-webcast-schedule

USA line score:
USA women    000 001 000 x     1
*Sweden    011 110 110 x    6    
*last rock in first end

USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics, Nike, bitRail, Laphroaig Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky and is partnered with CurlingZone.

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For more information: Terry Kolesar, USA Curling, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , 608-338-9900 (cell), 715-344-1199, Ext. 202 (office)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 13, 2010

(KALAMAZOO, Mich.) – In a tense battle between two former longtime teammates, the “new” skip overcame the veteran, as Erika Brown’s team won the 2010 USA Curling National Championship with a 5-4, extra-end win over the Patti Lank rink at Wings Stadium this afternoon.

Brown’s team won the game with a dead-on hit for one in the 11^th end, securing Brown’s first-ever World Women’s Championship appearance as a skip. Brown, born in Madison, Wis., and now living in Oakville, Ontario, last played in a world championship in 2004, as third for Lank. They finished fourth that year. Brown last skipped at the world level in the 1994 junior championships (age 21 and under), winning silver.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Brown, with teammates Nina Spatola (McFarland, Wis.), Ann Swisshelm (Chicago) and Laura Hallisey (Medfield, Mass.) nearby. The 37-year-old physician’s assistant said she was anticipating a gold-medal showdown against her former skip all week.

“We played together for nine years,” said Brown, who won three national titles with Lank and now three more without. This was Brown’s 17^th national championship appearance, and 12^th gold medal game. “My expectation going into the week what that we would meet Patti in the final and it would be a tight game, going 10 or 11 ends. But to me it wasn’t really about who we were playing. This would feel fantastic against anybody.”

Said Lank: “It was fun because it was a good game. That’s probably the best game I’ve seen them play. I’m a little tired of silver, though.”

Lank’s team was the runner-up in the 2009 Nationals, which also served as the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for curling. She was also runner-up in 2008, and five times previously. Lank has competed in 16 national championships since 1994, and made the final 11 times. She has won the title four times. Born in Midale, Saskatchewan, Canada, Lank also competed in six Canadian provincial championships.

Lank (Lewiston, N.Y.) and teammates Aileen Sormunen (Duluth, Minn.), Caitlin Maroldo (Rochester, N.Y.) and Jessica Schultz (Richfield, Minn.) got on the board first today, stealing one in the opening end when Brown tried to hit and roll for one and instead rolled out of count.

After blanking the second end, Brown was forced into taking one in the third. She returned the favor in the fourth, with Lank having to draw the four-foot against two opposing counters. Lank was perfect on this draw, in contrast to one earlier that went to the hack.

The game turned in Team Brown’s favor in the fifth. Lank just missed a double takeout with her last shot, but still had first count. That is until Brown delivered a precise tap back to score two for a 3-2 lead.

“It felt like it took until the fifth end before we finally took advantage of some opportunities,” said Brown. “We were waiting and waiting. The fifth end was huge. We were happy to be back on top, and to have done something with the hammer.”

After blanking the sixth, Lank’s team tried valiantly to set up a deuce in the seventh end, but couldn’t get buried behind corner guards. Both teams were still not sharp on the draw, with Sormunen putting her second shot in the hack. Lank was eventually forced to hit for one and a 3-3 score.

“Both teams tried to throw the corner guards up, but we just couldn’t get them in place,” remarked Brown. “We ended up with a lot of play in the rings, which I don’t think was necessarily the game plan for either team.”

Brown was facing three opposing counters in the eighth when she settled in with the last rock of the end. She opted to hit shot rock for one rather than draw, and made it cleanly.

Lank’s team was efficient at blanking the ninth end to retain the last-rock advantage heading home in the 10^th. But things didn’t go quite so smoothly in that last end of regulation, with Schultz’s two corner guard attempts both winding up in the house, where Brown’s team quickly pounced on them. By the time Maroldo delivered the fourth rock for her team, there were already four of the opposition’s sitting in the house.

“We got a big break when they didn’t get their corner guard up,” Brown said. Her team also got a break when Spatola’s first shot appeared to be off the mark but turned into an angle raise takeout.

“They got a little lucky there,” said Lank. “But we still had a chance for our deuce.”

After Spatola’s next takeout attempt jammed, Team Lank consulted with Coach Neil Harrison and called for Sormunen to draw around an opposing stone in the top of the four-foot for second count. But Sormunen’s stone crashed into it instead, and the advantage swung back to the other side.

Brown hit and stuck with her last shot to leave her team counting two. “If she doesn’t hit that perfectly or rolls the wrong way, I’ve got the shot for the win,” said Lank, who had the third count stone and would have had an open hit on Team Brown’s other stone in the back of the rings. Even with that, Lank’s team spent some time considering a cross-house double takeout.

“It was there, but it was a hard double,” said Lank. “My girls wanted me to go for it, because I’d been making them all week. I had made three triples. I just didn’t think it was smart, though. I decided we should just get our one and take our chances in the extra end. We’re usually pretty good at stealing.”

In the extra end, Schultz’s lead rock was where it needed to be, sitting as a high center guard. But not much else went right for Lank’s team in that end. The house was empty by the time Lank’s last rock was due, with one corner guard. Lank drew to the back of the four-foot, partially behind cover, but Brown still had a bead on it. She barely even considered playing the draw instead of the hit.

“I could see just about all of it,” said Brown. “I’d thrown that shot a lot. I felt really good about it.”

After making the shot, shaking hands with the Lank team, and embracing her teammates in victory, Brown said: “This is such a fun team. It’s great having the experience that Ann brings, and then to have two young, fresh faces who have never been to the worlds before is awesome. I’m so excited for them. I’m pretty excited for me, too. It’s been a long time.”

The champions have a short time to prepare for the Ford World Curling Championships in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada, which start Saturday, March 20. USA has two games on opening day, against Russia and Japan. NBC Universal Sports.com will be web streaming coverage of the championships.

USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics, Nike, bitRail, Laphroaig Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, and is partnered with CurlingZone and Hilton Garden Inn Washington DC.

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For more information: Terry Kolesar, USA Curling, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , 608-338-9900 (cell), 715-344-1199, Ext. 202 (office)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2010

USA women earn semifinal berth at 2010 World Juniors

(STEVENS POINT, Wis.) – Team USA’s quest for gold is still going strong as Alexandra Carlson led her team to the semifinal by defeating Switzerland today, 6-4, in the Page Playoff 3-4 game at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Flims, Switzerland.

Carlson (Wayzata, Minn.) and teammates Tabitha Peterson (Eagan, Minn.), Tara Peterson (Eagan, Minn.), Sophie Brorson (Duluth, Minn.) and Miranda Solem (Cohasset, Minn.) are making their first world junior playoff appearance and the first for the U.S. junior women’s program since 2007.

“We’re very pleased with that performance – that was very good game, solid,” Carlson said after the game. “We definitely started out rocky with those first two games, and we’ve just slowly been improving.”

The American ladies had a back-and-forth game with Switzerland’s Manuela Siegrist rink. Tied 4-4 after eight ends, Carlson’s team scored a key deuce in the ninth and ran the Swiss ladies out of rocks in the 10th for the win. They’ll now play Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg rink, which lost to Canada’s Rachel Homan team, 9-3, in the women’s Page Playoff 1-2 game. The semifinal is set for 6 p.m. Saturday (local time). Canada advances directly to Sunday’s gold-medal game.

“We’re going for the gold, of course – two more games,” Carlson said. “Our target when we came here was top four, and once we made that the next target is gold. If we play like we did today, we can beat Sweden. We played Sweden in our first game here, and that was not such a fabulous game on our part.”

The USA women are seeking to be just the second U.S. junior women’s team to win gold. 2006 Olympian Cassie (Johnson) Potter won the gold in 2002. The U.S. men’s last gold medal was in 2008 when 2010 Olympian Chris Plys led the U.S. team to the first gold since 1984.
Live webstreaming of the games can be found at http://www.worldcurling.org/wjcc-2010-webcast-schedule

USA line score:
 *USA women    002 010 102 x    6
Switzerland    010 101 010 x    4
*last rock in first end

USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics, Nike, bitRail, Laphroaig Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky and is partnered with CurlingZone.

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For more information: Terry Kolesar, USA Curling, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , 608-338-9900 (cell), 715-344-1199, Ext. 202 (office)  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 12, 2010

(KALAMAZOO, Mich.) – In one of the most entertaining games yet of the 2010 USA Curling National Championships, Mike Farbelow’s team out-dueled fellow Minnesotans led by Matt Stevens to reach Saturday’s gold medal game against the Pete Fenson rink.

Both teams took to the ice at Wings Stadium with the idea of keeping lots of granite in play, and they didn’t disappoint, right up until Team Farbelow scored four in the eighth end and the Stevens squad shook hands, making the final score 10-5.

“That was our plan, to put a lot of rocks in play,” said Farbelow, 46, of Minneapolis, who curls with Eric Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.), Jeff Puleo (Forest Lake, Minn.) and Mark Willmert (Minneapolis). “Hopefully it was entertaining for the crowd, too. We wanted to put on a show.”

Stevens and teammates Cody Stevens (the skip’s brother), Bob Liapis and Jeff Breyen, all of Bemidji, Minn., had a similar strategy in mind. “We planned on keeping a lot of rocks in play. That was the plan to start with anyway,” said Matt Stevens.

As is sometimes the case with a lot of rocks around the button, both teams found themselves making tough shots just for one in the first two ends. Puleo and Willmert dragged Farbelow’s last-rock draw in the third to the center of the house for two and a 3-1 lead. In the fourth, Liapis made a crowd-pleasing runback triple takeout to remove an opposing rock from the button. Team Stevens was set up for three until Farbelow came through with a double takeout of his own. Stevens made the draw for two for a 3-3 tie.

Farbelow’s team regained the lead with two in the fifth, and seized momentum by stealing one in the sixth when Stevens rolled out on a hit for one. Team Stevens came back to score two in the seventh and keep things close, 6-5, but the handles may as well have fallen off the rocks in the decisive eighth end.

After eight rocks, Team Farbelow had four counters in the house and Team Stevens had four rocks out of play. “That end kind of got away from us,” said Stevens. “I was thinking, ‘What did we do here? How do we get out of this now?’ We were trying to play doubles, but they just weren’t curling up.”

The eventual out was an attempted freeze to shot rock, but when that wound up in the open instead, Farbelow, aided by strong sweeping, made a perfect tap back to count four and ice the game.

“Their two lead rocks went into the house, and that kind of killed them,” Farbelow said of the final end. “I felt like we had control, but not much control,” he said of the game overall. “This was probably my team’s best game of the week, although it wasn’t my best game.”

“It all comes down to making shots,” said Stevens. “I can’t blame any one person for this one. That was all teamwork in missing shots there.”

“Mike played really good. Eric played really good,” he added.

Team Farbelow lost to Fenson twice so far this week, 9-4 in the round robin and 10-4 in the page playoff 1-2 game. “My two worst games of the week were against Pete, so if I play well tomorrow we should be alright,” said Farbelow.

The men’s gold medal game is at 3 p.m. The champions will earn the privilege of representing USA at the 2010 World Curling Championships April 3-11 in Cortina, Italy.

USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics, Nike, bitRail, Laphroaig Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky and is partnered with CurlingZone and Hilton Garden Inn Washington DC.

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For more information: Terry Kolesar, USA Curling, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , 608-338-9900 (cell), 715-344-1199, Ext. 202 (office)

MEDIA ADVISORY: Award presentations for both the women and men will be held immediately after the men’s final, at approximately 5:30 p.m.