(by Jonathan Brazeau)
TRURO, N.S. — Ottawa’s Rachel Homan scored her third Masters title in four season with a 6-2 victory over Edmonton’s Val Sweeting in the women’s final Sunday at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre.
Rachel Homan at the 2015 Pinty’s GSOC Masters in Truro, N.S. (Photo: Anil Mungal)
Homan blanked the first and took two in the second for a 2-0 lead. Sweeting held shot stone in three before her last rock but threw it away as Homan made a tight freeze holding her to one.
Team Homan ran into a bit of trouble in the fourth facing two with their last shot. Homan made the high-pressure draw to bite the button and get the single.
Homan made a double takeout with her last in five to sit two and force Sweeting to make a tap for one. Homan made a double tap to get another two points in six. Sweeting faced five counters with her final shot in seven and her shot overcurled. Sweeting only gave up a steal of one but trailed by four coming home and ran out of rocks in eight.
It’s also Masters title No. 3 for Team Homan third Emma Miskew and lead Lisa Weagle but the first for second Joanne Courtney, who joined the squad in 2014 replacing Alison Kreviazuk.
Sweeting entered the event as the defending champion winning her first career Pinty’s GSOC title at the Masters a year ago.
Team Homan have now qualified for the inaugural Champions Cup, the season-ending Pinty’s GSOC event featuring all of the top winners on tour. Homan missed out on being the first team to qualify after falling to Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in the season-opening Tour Challenge Tier 1 in September.
Earlier Sunday, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen won the men’s Masters title to earn his sixth career Pinty’s GSOC championship.
The Masters is the first major and second event on the 2015-16 Pinty’s GSOC season. Next up is the National, running Nov. 10-15 at the General Motors Centre in Oshawa, Ont.