Perfection eluded her at the Capital One Canada Cup of Curling, but Stefanie Lawton and her Saskatoon foursome still earned a day off.
The Lawton rink lost for the first time Friday afternoon 4-3 to Cathy Overton-Clapham, but had already clinched a berth in Sunday’s women’s final (9 a.m., Mosaic Place) following their 8-4 win over Crystal Webster in the morning.
“We’re just going to relax, go to the spa, and we’ll get out practicing (Saturday),” said Lawton. “We just want to take a break and regroup after that loss.”
While the loss didn’t mean anything in the standings, Lawton said they would look at what went wrong in their final round robin game and look to regain the form that saw them win their first five games at the Canada Cup.
“You never want to lose, but sometimes it gives us a little fire under our bums and away we go,” said Lawton.
In a game that featured five blank ends, chances to score points were at a premium against Overton-Clapham. Lawton scored twice in the eighth end to take a 3-2 lead, but Overton-Clapham scored twice in the 10th to earn her first win of the week.
“Our game this morning was quite good. This afternoon a couple of us struggled, but I think we’ll be coming out strong on Sunday,” said Lawton.
“Because it was such a close game and because there weren’t many opportunities you needed to take advantage of those opportunities and we didn’t always do that. We just missed some of our chances and that was the difference in the game.”
The Lawton rink is happy to have the bye to the final and doesn’t see a downside to sitting and watching while the rest of the field fights to join them.
“We’re not afraid to wait. We honestly like it,” said Lawton. “It gives us a break. The girls work hard out there and it gives them a chance to relax their muscles a little bit and then they can come out firing.”
It was dogfight to join them in the playoffs.
For awhile Friday it looked like there could be a four-way tie for second at 3-3, but Heather Nedohin stole two in the 11th end to beat Overton-Clapham 10-8.
The booked Nedohin’s place in the semifinal (12:30 p.m., Saturday) where she will meet the Jennifer Jones team that is being skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes.
The Jones rink booked their place in the semifinal thanks to a 7-5 win over Chelsea Carey.
Carey’s final draw came up short in her bid to force an extra end. Carey began the event 0-3 and would have earned a spot in a tiebreak with a win.
Friday’s afternoon draw, Crystal Webster stayed alive with a 9-6 win over Nedohin in an extra end to lift her record to 3-3 record. Had Jones or Nedohin lost, she too would have earned a tiebreak.
