The U.S. women's curling team suffered a 7-2 defeat to Italy on Monday at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics, snapping a three-game winning streak. Italy, which entered the match with an 0-5 record, stole points in the early ends to build a commanding lead. The loss drops Team USA to 4-2, while keeping them tied for second in the women's round-robin standings.
In Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, the U.S. women's curling team faced host nation Italy in a round-robin match on February 16, 2026. Italy's skip Stefania Constantini led her team to a dominant performance, stealing one point in the third end after blanking the first two for the U.S., which held the hammer. Constantini drew to the button and froze to a U.S. stone, prompting U.S. skip Tabitha Peterson to opt against a challenging takeout.
The Italians extended their lead in the fourth end, stealing two more points when Peterson's attempted triple takeout missed, hitting only one stone and allowing Italy to capitalize on the open four-foot. In the fifth, Constantini removed a U.S. stone and positioned two of her own on opposite sides of the house; Peterson's takeout attempt failed again, hitting her own guard, resulting in another stolen point and a 4-0 halftime lead for Italy—all on stolen ends without the hammer.
The U.S. scored their first point in the sixth end with Peterson drawing to the button, but Italy responded in the seventh—their first end with the hammer—regaining the four-point advantage. After the U.S. added one in the eighth, Constantini sealed the victory in the ninth by removing the lone U.S. stone and scoring two, prompting the Americans to concede with a five-point deficit.
Despite outshooting Italy 82% to 79%, the U.S. lagged in draw shots (81% to Italy's 91%) and takeouts (26 to 36). "It was definitely a struggle for us out there," said U.S. third Cory Thiesse. "Me, especially, just kind of had a hard time getting a feel on the ice and I felt like we were kind of chasing the whole game and couldn't really get 100% out of all of our shots."
Thiesse praised Italy: "They're a great team. They played great tonight. They're a lot better team than what their record shows this week, so props to them on playing such a great game."
The U.S. team—skipped by Tabitha Peterson with teammates Tara Peterson, Thiesse, and lead Taylor Anderson-Heide—remains tied for second at 4-2 alongside South Korea and Switzerland. Sweden leads undefeated at 6-0. Team USA faces Denmark on Tuesday at 8:05 a.m. ET, while Italy (now 1-5) plays Japan at the same time.
