Fleury faces Homan for women’s National title
OSHAWA, Ont. — Tracy Fleury of Sudbury will face Ottawa’s Rachel Homan in a Battle of Ontario for the inaugural National women’s championship.
Fleury punched her ticket to her first final in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling after capitalizing on some lucky breaks against Edmonton’s Val Sweeting to score a 9-1 victory during Saturday night’s semifinals. Homan continued her undefeated streak at the National extending her record to 6-0 with a 5-3 win over Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton.
“We’re super-excited,” Fleury said with a smile. “We’re really looking forward to tomorrow’s game.”
Sweeting, who finished runner-up to Homan two weeks ago at the Masters, opened with hammer but struggled early conceding a steal of one in the second and then fell in a deep hole giving up a five-count in the third. Sweeting looked to bounce back for a deuce in the fourth but her shooter rolled too far and wasn’t close enough for second and only counted a single. Fleury made an open hit for three in the fifth to bring out the handshakes.
“We put a lot of pressure on them in the third end and they just really had one bad end,” Fleury said. “Then they had to start gambling so it was just that kind of game.”
Fleury fell in her opening game to EunJung Kim of South Korea but has now won five straight.
Meanwhile, Homan scored a deuce in the fourth end to go ahead and added a single steal in five to make it 4-2. Lawton settled for a one in six, Homan blanked the seventh and added another point coming home.
Homan holds a 19-1 win-loss record in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series this season and won her third Masters title in four years just two weeks ago.
The National is the third stop — and second major — of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. Previously a men’s invitational, the National expanded this year to include a women’s division for the first time in the event’s history.
Watch the men’s final between Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., and Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers on Sunday at Noon ET / 9 a.m. PT on CBC.
