VICTORIA — Giulia Zardini Lacedelli's first win as a skip in the Grand Slam of Curling was a classic case of "it's not how you start, but how you finish."
Zardini Lacedelli fell behind 4-0 early to Denmark's Madeleine Dupont, but the Italian skip erased the deficit and then some to earn a wild 9-7 victory on Thursday night in the Co-op Invitational at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
"It's great," Zardini Lacedelli said. "It was a crazy beginning of that game, but we knew that we just had to stick together and we could have had a good chance to make it. I’m very glad we did it."
Zardini Lacedelli previously played with skip Stefania Constantini, third Elena Mathis and second Marta Lo Deserto, competing in 12 Grand Slams and representing Italy at the Olympic Winter Games on home ice in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
After the team disbanded at the conclusion of the quadrennial, Zardini Lacedelli moved up from lead to skip, retained Mathis and Lo Deserto and added rookie Rachele Scalesse.
Although they're ranked No. 23 in the world, four spots in each division of the GSOC Co-op Invitational were available to Satellite event qualifiers. Zardini Lacedelli earned her ticket by reaching the Euro Super Series semis, as finalists Xenia Schwaller and Alina Pätz had already been selected.
While the Co-op Invitational is Zardini Lacedelli's first Grand Slam as a skip, it's also Scalesse's first Grand Slam, period.
"Yeah, it's amazing. This arena is wonderful," Zardini Lacedelli said. "It's just an amazing feeling to be here with my team again, but also Rachele, I think for her, it's very special.
"We're just trying to take everything in, and it's very good for us to play some games against the best team in the world to see where we are. Just a great experience."
Zardini Lacedelli lost her first two games to Sweden's Anna Hasselborg and Pätz, putting her team in must-win mode Thursday night to avoid elimination.
While Dupont's three-pointer in the first and single steal in the second weren't ideal, it wasn't the end of the world for Zardini Lacedelli either.
Zardini Lacedelli chipped away and scored a three-ender of her own in the third, forced Dupont to a single in the fourth, then added two points in the fifth to tie it up and a steal of three in the sixth to jump ahead 8-5.
After Dupont took two in the seventh, Zardini Lacedelli held on and tacked a single on the board in the eighth.
That kept her team in contention for now, with one preliminary round game remaining on Friday against Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa, who also holds a 1-2 record with three points.
"I think that's the position you want to be in going into the last day, that you still have a chance to make it to the playoffs," Zardini Lacedelli said. "I think we're playing great, so we just need to adjust those little details, maybe not take another three or a steal in the beginning. That would be great, but yeah, very, very excited for tomorrow."
Schwaller stymies Pätz in Swiss showdown
The season is young, but entering the Co-op Invitational, Schwaller and Pätz had faced each other four times already, including three finals.
All four were victories for Pätz, but the tables had turned — or maybe the turns had tabled — when they met a fifth time Thursday afternoon.
Schwaller doubled up on Pätz 6-3, as the reigning world champion improved to a 2-1 record in the tournament.
"Really good," Schwaller said. "It was also a really well-played game, which I'm really happy about."
Both coaches were on the bench this time: Andi Schwaller, who is Xenia's father, and John Epping, whose men's team is also competing in the event. That could be one reason why he hasn't been on the bench up to this point, or perhaps he just wanted some TV time with Schwaller and Pätz playing in the featured game.
"We talked about that. He's coming on the bench whenever he has time, so it just worked out well that it was a TV game, too," Xenia said with a laugh. "But it's really good to have him on the bench. It just feels very natural, and it felt like the whole team is back together, which felt awesome."
As Epping looks to pass on his knowledge to Schwaller's team, they've also left their mark on him, quite literally. As motivation last season, Epping agreed to get a grasshopper tattoo, as Schwaller plays out of the Grasshopper Club in Zurich. Lo and behold, the team with an average age of 23 years old went on a roll, winning the Swiss curling championship and gold at the women's worlds.
"That's what's incredible. People forget how young they are," Epping said last month during the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard. "You watch other young teams play them right now, and they'll say, 'Oh, we're playing the world champion team and our team's so young,' and they forget that our girls are so young.
"It's such an impressive thing that they did, the composure, and especially under the high-pressure games. Kudos to Xenia’s dad, Andi, who was a great guiding force for them. I'd like to think that I was able to help them along the way too and keep things light. They're just a lot of fun to be around. We have a ton of fun, but they work so, so hard."
Schwaller finishes preliminary play against Victoria's own Taylor Reese-Hansen (1-2, five points), while Pätz (1-2, three points) plays South Korea's Bo-bae Kang's team, skipped by Kyeong-ae Kang (3-0, eight points), in a must-win matchup.
Hasselborg holds on against Fujisawa
Deuces were wild when Hasselborg faced Fujisawa in the late afternoon draw. The teams alternated pairs of points through every end, except the fifth when Fujisawa was limited to a single.
That proved to be the difference-maker, as Hasselborg held on for the 8-7 victory.
Hasselborg holds a 3-0 record and eight points after coming from behind to defeat Reese-Hansen in a shootout Wednesday night.
"Something our old coach Wayne Middaugh taught us is a win is always a win, and it doesn't matter how you get them; you just try to get them," Hasselborg said. "I think we showed just that. We played really well, actually. We had a good setup in a few ends and gave them two instead of forcing. I'm really happy with a win."
Hasselborg will look to lock down a playoff spot Friday night against winless Dupont (0-3, zero points).
"It's nice to have the wins in your backpack, but still want to work on some stuff," Hasselborg said. "You always want to work on stuff, but it's worse when you have the losses coming with them.
"I definitely want to improve on some things and then just enjoying the wins, for sure."
