Scotland’s men and women have both maintained their perfect starts to the World Junior Championships after two days of action in Germany.
It was a confidence boosting day, with Team Carson’s teenage quartet dominating both Turkiye and Italy in the men’s event, while Fay Henderson, Robyn Munro, Holly Wilkie-Milne and Laura Watt beat a Japanese line-up that contained three of the players who won this title a year ago.
“It was good to get another win on the board,” said skip Henderson.
“They were tough opponents having won both their opening games and with a few members of their team having won the World Juniors last year, so we were pretty pleased with that result.”
The Scots were initially unable to capitalise on earning the hammer at the opening end, but after falling behind they responded immediately and showed their fighting qualities to the end of a closely contested match.
“The steal against us after blanking the first two ends was a bit disappointing, but we never let our heads go down and we thought the fourth end was a good opportunity to score and we did that,” said Henderson.
“Getting the only two of the game there was definitely what sent us on the way to the win, with us managing to force Japan to ones really well after that.
“It was tight all the way and we were struggling a bit to create momentum, so Robyn had to throw hits the whole game, which shows we maybe were on the back foot, but we managed to make the shots at the right time which was crucial, with some really good sweeping helping us make those. That was key to the win.”
With the scores level at 3-3 it went to the very last stone, delivered by Henderson who had a tight route to negotiate to find the four foot circle and secure the win, but she shared the credit with her teammates who made sure that it got there.
“I was left with a four foot draw after not throwing too many draws the whole game, but I played that end leaving myself with that for the win and I was more than prepared before she even threw her last stone, knowing I was going to have that,” she explained.
“Managing to make it with the big sweep gives us good confidence going forward when we know that we can close out close games well, so we’re overall delighted with that win and we’re just looking to build on this momentum looking for results and hoping we can keep it going tomorrow.”
Earlier in the day Orrin Carson, Charlie Gibb, Archie Hyslop and Logan Carson had put in a powerful performance despite slipping a shot behind after two ends before claiming a two at the third, then steals at the next four ends on their way to an 8-3 victory over the Turks.
They then followed that up in spectacular style against Italy, registering two four counts in the first half of the match to reach the midway break 10-2 ahead before, with the Scots taking the chance to give alternate Scott Hyslop some ice time, both teams went through the motions to complete the mandatory six ends when the concession was offered with the score at 10-3.
Please click here for the schedule and more information
LIVE streamed games are available on Recast’s The Curling Channel
Images: WCF/Stephen Fisher/Alina Pavlyuchik
Scotland women
Fay Henderson
Robyn Munro
Holly Wilkie-Milne
Laura Watt
Amy Mitchell (Alternate)
Colin Morrison (Team Coach)
David Aitken (Head Coach)
Scotland men
Orrin Carson
Logan Carson
Archie Hyslop
Charlie Gibb
Scott Hyslop (Alternate)
Ryan Carson (Team Coach)
David Aitken (Head Coach)
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Schedule and Results
Game times: 0800, 1300, 1800 (GMT)
Day One – Saturday 25 February
Scotland women
Scotland – Germany 7-5
Scotland men
Scotland – Canada 7-2
Scotland women
Scotland – Latvia 8-5
Day Two – Sunday 26 February
Scotland men
Scotland – Turkiye 8-3
Scotland women
Scotland – Japan 4-3
Scotland men
Scotland – Italy 10-3
Day Three – Monday 27 February
Scotland women
Scotland – Canada
Scotland men
Scotland – Germany
Scotland women
Scotland – Sweden
Day Four – Tuesday 28 February
Scotland men
Scotland – China
Scotland women
Scotland – Switzerland
Scotland men
Scotland – Switzerland
Day Five – Wednesday 1 March
Scotland women
Scotland – Korea
Scotland men
Scotland – Korea
Scotland women
Scotland – Norway
Day Six – Thursday 2 March
Scotland men
Scotland – USA
Scotland women
Scotland – USA
Scotland men
Scotland – Norway
Day Seven – Friday 3 March
Women’s Semi Final 13.00
Men’s Semi Final 18.00
Day Eight – Saturday 4 March
Women’s Finals 08.00
Men’s Finals13.00