TRURO, N.S. — Ottawa’s Rachel Homan made her last shot to score three and fended off a late charge from Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones to win 8-4 in the quarterfinals of the Masters on Saturday night.
Homan had a couple of early Halloween treats with a deuce in the second and a three-ender in four while holding Jones to singles in three and five to lead 5-2. However, Jones rode the steal train swiping points in six and seven to close within one coming home.
Homan looks to win her third Masters title in four seasons and faces Winnipeg’s Kristy McDonald in the semifinals.
Team McDonald topped home-province heroes Team Mary-Anne Arsenault of Halifax 5-2 to reach the semis at a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event for the first time together.
“This is our second Slam we’ve qualified in as a team, we lost the (Tour Challenge) quarterfinals in Newfoundland,” Team McDonald third Kate Cameron explained. “We kind of took it game-by-game so it was big for us.”
Team Arsenault was the sponsor’s exemption at the Masters and scored upset wins over Jones, Russia’s Anna Sidorova and reigning world champion Alina Paetz of Switzerland to qualify.
GSOC Masters Live: Men’s scores | Women’s scores
Meanwhile, defending Masters champion Val Sweeting of Edmonton scored a 7-3 victory over Sidorova to advance. Sweeting had a strong second half breaking a 3-3 tie with a deuce in seven and added a steal of two in eight to close out the game.
“We didn’t play quite as well in yesterday’s game so we wanted to come out strong,” Sweeting said. “Definitely some good team shots out there, Sidorova was playing really well but we made the good one when we had to.
“I thought that the team came together really well and we … kept it close and then had a really good second half so that was key and we definitely want to carry that into tomorrow morning.”
Team Sweeting have been up to their usual tour shenanigans, this time involving cardboard cutouts of Brad Gushue and Eve Muirhead.
“We walked by them and saw them and you’ve got to have some fun,” Sweeting said with a laugh. “We got some poses with Brad, got Eve to the gym there. We’re just trying to have fun and things you can do when everything is going well with the team.”
@SweetingTeam kicking it with an East Coast #rockstar #GSOC #BoowiththeGoo #sweetingnation #trickortreat pic.twitter.com/dInegqEMZd
— Lori Olson-Johns (@xfitgirl11) October 27, 2015
Sweeting’s semifinal opponent is Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson, who topped Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni 10-7 as the Tour Challenge Tier 2 winner took down the reigning Tier 1 champ in a high-scoring affair.
“It’s been wonderful and a great experience,” Einarson said. “We came in here just open-minded and just wanting to curl good. We finally put together a good game tonight.”
Einarson scored four in the second to go ahead 4-1 but her lead was short-lived as Tirinzoni bounced back with a five-ender in three.
“Well, when you get four you do not want to give five back but sometimes that happens,” Einarson said. “But we rebounded and we just kept our composure and came out with the W.”
Einarson took two in the fourth to tie it 6-6. The teams alternated singles in five and six and Einarson put on the pressure to steal one in seven and swiped two in eight when Tirinzoni’s final shot came up light.
The men’s semifinals feature Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock against Jim Cotter, of Vernon, B.C., and Calgary’s Kevin Koe playing Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen.
Watch the all-Canadian men’s and women’s semifinals live Sunday morning on Sportsnet at 8 a.m. ET / 5 a.m. PT.
The Masters is the first major and second event on the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season with semifinals and finals taking place Sunday at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre.
