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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 20, 2005
Four women’s teams share lead at 2006 U.S. Olympic
Team Trials for Curling
(MADISON, Wis.) – Having the lead for nine ends in a
10-end match proved to be the winning recipe for success
for the Patti Lank rink Sunday morning at the Madison
Curling Club.
Lank (Lewiston, N.Y.) and teammates Erika Brown
(Oakville, Ontario/Madison, Wis.), Nicole Joraanstad
(Madison) and Natalie Nicholson (Bemidji, Minn.) took
the lead in the second end and held the advantage
throughout the match against Madison’s Lori Karst rink
for a 6-3 victory.
“I think it’s easier for us to stay in control because
we’re so experienced,” Lank said. “We just go out and
play our game. It’s always good to get that second game
under your belt. Now we can get down to business.”
As it often does in curling, it came down to a matter of
missing shots by an inch or two for Karst (Madison) and
teammates Stephanie Radl (Morrisonville, Wis.), Shelly
Pape (Portage, Wis.) and Laurie Walters (DePere, Wis.).
And, unfortunately for Karst, the Lank rink took
advantage each time.
“We played eight ends the way I wanted to but I’d like
to take back the fifth and ninth ends,” said Karst, a
firefighter/EMT with the City of Madison Fire
Department. “In the fifth I played with too much weight
and in the ninth I played for two when I should have
been more aggressive and went for three.”
The win improves Team Lank to 2-0 and drops Karst to
0-2. “We thought we’d start out 0-2. I’m extremely happy
with the way we’re playing. We’re doing all the team
stuff right but just missing by inches. The ice is so
precise you can do anything with it. This is the best
ice I’ve ever played on.”
Caitlin Maroldo’s New York rink bounced back from last
night’s loss with a decisive 7-1 victory over Nancy
Richard’s Seattle team to even its record at 1-1.
Maroldo (Rochester, N.Y.) and teammates Chrissy Fink-Haase
(Schenectady, N.Y.), Elizabeth Williams (Utica, N.Y.)
and Erlene Puleo (New Hartford, N.Y.) broke open the
game in the fourth end when the team was able to protect
four rocks they had placed in the house to increase the
lead to 5-1. Every time Richard tried to get something
going in the latter ends Maroldo had an answer.
“We had a much better game than last night,” Maroldo
said. “We just put that behind us. We’ve calmed down and
settled in and are staying positive. We’re just taking
it game by game with the ultimate goal to be in the
final four.”
The Cassie Johnson, Debbie McCormick and Aileen Sormunen
rinks all improved to 2-0 as well to share the top spot
in the women’s division.
Johnson played aggressive opening up the game with a
steal of three in the third end to pull ahead 4-1
against the Katlyn Schmitt rink of Bemidji, Minn. The
team capitalized on a few key misses in the subsequent
ends to build a 6-1 lead after five ends. Schmitt was
only able to get one on the board in the sixth before
Johnson sealed the team’s win with two in the seventh
end for an 8-2 win.
The McCormick team also started aggressively much like
in last night’s match scoring three in the opening end
against Norma O’Leary’s Minnesota squad. The 2003 world
champions proved to be too much for O’Leary as McCormick
built a 7-3 lead after seven ends and held on for a 7-5
win.
Sormunen’s young Duluth, Minn., rink picked up right
where they left off last night building a 5-0 lead after
three ends in its match against the Amy Wright rink. A
few key misses throughout the game proved costly for
Wright as she tried to get her team back in the game.
Wright had the task of trying to steal two points in the
10th to tie the game but only was able to
come up with one to end the game 8-7.
The women will be back in action at 8 tonight. The men
return to the ice at 2 p.m. today. Live action of the
2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling can be
followed on the USA Curling web site at www.usacurl.org.
Live scoring, player biographies and more can be found
on the official event web site at
www.usacurl.org.
USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics and
AmerAust Technologies as well as by General Motors,
Chevron-Texaco and Bank of America through a joint
marketing program with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Game scores: C. Johnson 8, Schmitt 2; McCormick
7, O’Leary 5; Maroldo 7, Richard 1; Sormunen 8, Wright
7; Lank 6, Karst 3
Women’s standings
Johnson 2-0
Lank 2-0
McCormick 2-0
Sormunen 2-0
Maroldo 1-1
Wright 1-1
Karst 0-2
O’Leary 0-2
Richard 0-2
Schmitt 0-2
Men’s standings
Baird 1-0
Brown 1-0
Clark 1-0
Fenson 1-0
Larway 1-0
Disher 0-1
Eigner 0-1
Johnson 0-1
Ruohonen 0-1
Tucker 0-1
(30)
For more information: Rick Patzke, USA Curling,
rickp@curlingrocks.net, 715-344-1199 |
