Scotland’s women suffered another set-back in their bid to defend the gold medal they won last year at the World Junior Championships when they were unable to end Switzerland’s unbeaten record on the fourth day of the event in Lohja, Finland.
Knowing they had little room for manoeuvre as they attempted to get into the play-off mix, the Scots battled all the way and while they were unable to secure the result they wanted, skip Robyn Munro reasserted their determination to fight to the end after the match.
“We haven’t made this easy for ourselves but that doesn’t mean we are going to give up fighting,” she said.
“We have three more games and we know we can finish this round robin strong, so we just have to leave it all out on the ice for those and take each match as it comes.
“With great responsibility comes great challenge and I like being a skip and obviously we would like to have more wins on the board at this stage, but in terms of sticking together as a team I am proud of the way that we have conducted ourselves and I am proud of the job we are doing out there, we just need to turn it into three more wins and we can look back on this championship with pride.
The Scots held the upper hand over the table topping Swiss at different stages during their encounter before succumbing to a 6-4 defeat, but Munro drew encouragement from the way they competed.
“Obviously coming into this, Switzerland were the number one ranked team and they put on a performance that warrants their position at the top of the standings at the moment,” said Munro.
“That doesn’t mean that we didn’t try our hardest and we took them right down to the tenth end and down to the wire.
“We didn’t make it easy for them out there and we controlled the scoreboard for most of the game. Unfortunately we just had a few slack ends and a few missed shots and we weren’t able to get it across the line. It was a very good game though.
“With these strong teams if you give them an inch they take a mile and they played some great freezes and really put some pressure on us. Unfortunately that resulted in two steals when there wasn’t much going for me with my last shot, so definitely they put the pressure on us and we weren’t on the right side of the scoreboard.”
In looking to lift their performance, Team Munro brought alternate Hannah Farries into their line-up for that meeting with the Swiss and Munro was pleased with her contribution on her World Championship debut.
“We made the change and Hannah slotted into the team just nicely and brought some good energy and hopefully enjoyed the experience” said Munro.
In the men’s event Team Carson roared back into contention for the play-offs with a two win day, beating New Zealand 9-2 and Switzerland 11-2.
“Yesterday against Germany we played well but couldn’t turn it into a win, but today we were able to turn it on and if we keep playing like that we will keep giving ourselves chances in every game and we now have a couple of wins to show for it, “ said Carson
“Getting Hammer is very important to start with is at this level especially, very important to give you control over the first few ends if you can make use of it, so if you can get a lead in by half time you are in a great position going forward.
“Getting two wins today gets us to a 3-3 record and if we can get another win tomorrow against China that will help make these wins count, so we think a 4-3 record would make the scoreboard look better for us.
“We know China will be tough like every team out here and we will treat them with respect.
Carson, whose team includes younger brother Logan and Archie Hyslop, who won gold at the Winter Youth Olympics in Korea last month, believes his team is becoming ever more settled in the environment with every game.
“We are liking the arena setting and it is getting quite emotional out there on the ice and we feed off the crowd and I think they feed off us,” he said.
“It is really great to have the Scottish supporters so close to the ice and we will use that to help us win a few more games.”
The competition takes place in Lohja from February 17 to 24.
Streaming of matches from the World Junior Championships is available from The Curling Channel. To sign up to the recently re-launched Curling Channel please follow this link.
For further broadcast details.
For more information on the World Juniors.
Team Scotland – Team Munro
Robyn Munro
Laura Watt
Holly Wlkie-Milne
Amy Mitchell
Hannah Farries (A)
Team Coach: Alan Hannah
Head Coach: Nancy Smith
Team Scotland – Team O Carson
Orrin Carson
Logan Carson
Archie Hyslop
Charlie Gibb
Hamish Gallacher (A)
Team Coach Ryan Carson
Head Coach: Nancy Smith
Team Scotland Schedule:
Saturday 17 February
7.00am – Team Munro
Scotland – Germany 4-6
12.00pm midday – Team O Carson
Scotland – Canada 9-4
5.30pm – Team Munro
Scotland – Japan 5-8
Sunday 18 February
7.00am - Team O Carson
Scotland – Italy 6-10
12.00pm midday - Team Munro
Scotland – Turkiye 10-5
5.00pm - Team O Carson
Scotland – USA 6-10
Monday 19 February
7.00am - Team Munro
Scotland – Canada 7-6
12.00pm midday - Team O Carson
Scotland – Germany 5-7
5pm – Team Munro
Scotland – Sweden 6-10
Tuesday 20 February
7.00am - Team O Carson
Scotland – New Zealand 9-2
12.00pm midday - Team Munro
Scotland – Switzerland 4-6
5.00pm - Team O Carson
Scotland – Switzerland 11-2
Wednesday 21 February
7.00am - Team Munro
Scotland – China
12.00pm midday - Team O Carson
Scotland - China
5.00pm - Team Munro
Scotland – Norway
Thursday 22 February
7.00am - Team O Carson
Scotland – Denmark
12.00pm midday - Team Munro
Scotland - Korea
5.00pm - Team O Carson
Scotland – Norway
Friday 23 February
12.00pm midday Women’s semi finals
5.00pm Men’s semi finals
Saturday 24 February
8.00am Women’s FINAL
1.00pm Men’s FINAL
Image: WCF
#WJCC2024 #curling
