american women

The U.S. women’s curling team was surprised to learn that its loss to Canada on Friday marked a Olympic first.

“If that’s true,” Minneapolis native Taylor Anderson-Heide said after the 9-8 game, “I think we just played a really good game. They’re No. 1 in the world.”

Tara Peterson of Shoreview, Minn., chimed in: “It always feels really good to beat (Canada jumper) Rachel Homan. So any team that beats them, it’s pretty impressive.”

Until Friday, the U.S. women had never beaten Canada, a perennial favorite that has medaled in every Winter Games since curling was added to the Olympics in 1998. The U.S. men beat the Canadians for the first time in the 2018 round-robin and again in the semifinals en route to their gold medal in Pyeongchang.

Canada’s Homan team has been considered the best in the world for years.

In Friday’s game, the United States managed to capitalize on some weak shots from Canada. After the victory, the Americans walked together across the ice and returned to their coaches, raising their fists in triumph.

Peterson, like Anderson-Heide, couldn’t help but add a nuance to his response to questions from The News: “Apparently, we’ve never beaten them in the Olympics before. That makes them very special.”

This year’s U.S. women’s curling team, like their Gen Z male counterparts, combines accessibility with ambition. In addition to Anderson-Heide and Peterson, the team includes Tabitha Peterson, who is Tara’s older sister, as well as the brilliant Cory Thiesse, who has already won a silver medal in the mixed doubles event. Minnesota’s Aileen Geving is a substitute.

Three of them have jobs other than curling and three are mothers of young children. Tara is a dentist, Tabitha is a pharmacist, and Thiesse is a lab technician.

Tara gave birth to her son, Eddie, in September 2024 and a few months later, Tabitha had a daughter, Noelle. Geving had a daughter, Sienna, after the 2018 Games.

“That’s the great thing about the sport of curling. The average person plays against Olympic athletes and we’re friends,” Tara Peterson. told News themezone Minnesota before the Olympic Games. “And after the game we sit down, we have dinner. We have a beer. It’s just a normal life.”

Tabitha Peterson told News themezone Minnesota that she considers the Olympics “just like another tournament.”

“It’s another competition. And try not to focus like, oh my God, we’re in the Olympics,” he said.

They have several games left in the round-robin before the semifinals next Friday. They are 2-1 after Friday’s game, with a win against Korea and a loss to Sweden along with the milestone.