A powerful late comeback earned the USA’s Team Strouse an impressive victory at the Euro Super Series as they scored four shots at the last two ends to beat an Italian quartet skipped by Olympic mixed doubles champion Stefania Constantini in the final at Stirling’s National Curling Academy.
Heading into the decider with a 100 per cent record throughout the week’s play, Team Constantini looked to be in control after registering a three at the second end and maintaining that advantage over the next four.
However, a three for the Americans at the seventh end levelled things up and they then stole at the last to wrap up a 6-5 win which fully justified their decision to head across the Atlantic so early in the season.
“It feels amazing,” said skip Delaney Strouse, whose women had ended home interest in the event when they beat Team Munro 6-3 in the semi-final. 
“It made it pretty easy to explain when people back home asked ‘why Scotland’ and I was able to say the game started here, so we made a pretty big trip coming over here and it was definitely worth it.
“It was amazing to have our first tournament of the season on this incredible ice in this incredible area of Stirling and we would definitely come back.
“It is important for us to get some ranking points early, too.
“We want to head to the Slams in the next two years and are targeting the tier two events this year, so this was a great opportunity to help with that.”
As they target another trip to Europe in three years time, for the Winter Olympic Games at Milan Cortina, the final was a perfect opportunity for Strouse and teammates Anne O’Hara, Sydney Mullaney and Rebecca Rodgers to measure their progress.
“We were very excited to play Constantini and her squad who are now one of the best teams in the world and we are looking to head in that direction,” said Strouse.
“I think we are headed the right way. 
“We are a younger team Anna is only 20 and our oldest is 23 so I think that we have a lot of goals for the future and we want to be hitting it really hard.”
There was a better outcome for Italy in the final of the Baden Masters as Team Retornaz served notice of their intention to build on a hugely impressive 2022/23 campaign which saw them climb the world rankings, beating Scotland’s Team Bryce 6-1 in the final.
However, the event also demonstrated the growing strength in depth in Scottish curling, with all four representatives reaching the quarter-finals, Team Waddell exiting at that stage, while Team Craik also lost to Joel Retornaz’s men in the semi-final while Team Bryce were edging out compatriots Team Whyte with an extra end win.
ESS Results:
Draw 1
Blair – Strouse 2-9
Jaeggi – Henderson 5-3
Roervik – Abbes 9-4
Draw 2
Munro – Henderson 2-7
Constantini – Laurie 5-2
Blair – Morrison 2-10
Draw 3
Morrison – Abbes 5-3
Strouse – Roervik 5-1
Jaeggi – Constantini 5-7
Draw 4
Roervik – Blair 6-5
Laurie – Munro 1-3
Draw 5
Laurie – Jaeggi 1-7
Henderson – Constantini 4-7
Abbes – Strouse 12-9
Draw 6
Constantini – Munro 5-4 
Abbes – Blair 6-3
Morrison – Roervik 5-8
Draw 7
Strouse – Morrison 9-3
Munro – Jaeggi 8-3
Henderson – Laurie 7-2
Quarter Final
Munro – Morrison 7-1
Roervik – Jaeggi 7-6
Semi Final
Strouse – Munro 6-3
Constantini – Roervik 5-3
Final
Constantini – Strouse 5-6
The ESS men’s event starts this week (24-27 August) and games will be live streamed on the British Curling Recast channel.
We are keen to hear from anyone who would like to volunteer at our British Curling international events that we will stage at the National Curling Academy in the 2023-24 season. Please get in touch: events@britishcurling.org.uk
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