(by Jean Mills)
Rachel Homan kept the pedal down on the road to the playoffs, defeating Bingyu Wang of China 7-4 in the second-last game of round-robin play at the Titlis Glacier Mountain World Women’s Curling Championship 2013, presented by Ford Motor Company of Canada.
Rachel Homan calls the sweepers on in morning action in Riga, Latvia (Photo WCF/Michael Burns)
With the win, Homan and her Ottawa team – Emma Miskew, Alison Kreviazuk and Lisa Weagle, with alternate Stephanie LeDrew and coach Earl Morris – have secured a spot in at least the tie-breakers. Scotland’s Eve Muirhead and Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson hold the top two spots with 9-1 records, with Canada in third at 7-3, followed by Russia’s Anna Sidorova at 6-4. Erika Brown of the U.S.A. (5-4) could squeak into the tie-breakers if the U.S. defeats Scotland in the final round-robin game, and if Canada loses, creating a three-way tie of teams with four losses.
In the game against China, Canada looked confident in both ice and rocks – something that was lacking earlier in the week. After trading singles, Homan stole one in the third when Wang’s draw against two Canadian counters wrecked on a guard.
It was all singles and blanks for the first eight ends as both teams missed opportunities to score multiple points, but after a take-out attempt by Homan in the ninth jammed, China scored two in the ninth to take a 4-3 lead.
Canada bounced back in the tenth, taking advantage of a missed draw attempt by China to lie three. Wang was able to put a rock in the four-foot, but Homan calmly hit for the four points, and a 7-4 win.
Team Canada plays Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa (4-5) its final round-robin game of the Titlis Glacier Mountain World Women’s Curling Championship 2013, presented by Ford Motor Company of Canada, Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ADT.
All of Team Canada’s games are being broadcast by TSN/RDS, the official broadcast partner of the Season of Champions.
Event news, live scores and galleries can be found on the event website: http://wwcc2013.curlingevents.com