Early mistake sinks Americans
In the first end, Team USA was forced to settle for a single and opted to attempt a hit but Allison Pottinger's stone wrecked on a Swiss rock in the top of the house and spun out of the rings, resulting in a steal of two for Switzerland to begin the game. Unfortunately for the Americans, that opening-end snafu became the dominating factor in the eventual 11-7 loss to the Swiss ladies.
"Honestly, it comes down to the very first end. You can't give up two in the first end and get behind right away. Then you're digging, digging, digging," said Pottinger, who won the world championship in 2003 and has now represented the U.S. at 11 world championships. "We shouldn't have been playing that hit. We had good draw weight; I should have been throwing the draw. I mean, we got the wholes rings ... I gotta hit eight-foot. We shouldn't be afraid to throw a draw. Then after that in the second end we threw the draw and we made it and got going. It's all about that first end."
With the 11-7 loss to the Swiss (2-0), Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and teammates Nicole Joraanstad (Verona, Wis.), Natalie Nicholson (Bemidji, Minn.) and Tabitha Peterson (Eagan, Minn.) dropped to 0-2 in the 11-game round robin standings at the Enmax Centre.
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