Oleinik (Brookfield, Wis.) and teammates Laurie Rahn (Lake Forest, Ill.), JoAnn Matthews (New Berlin, Wis.), Susan Curtis (Rogers, Ark.) and Donna Purkey (Greenwich, Conn.) battled back from a 4-1 deficit and stole the final end to start the tournament in the win column.

The two teams traded singles in the first two ends until England blasted the Americans for three in the third end. A deuce by USA in the fourth pulled the team to within one point and a steal in the fifth tied the game up at 4-4. The teams traded singles again with the U.S. women getting the win on the strength of the eighth-end steal of one.

Next up for the American's is Sweden's Ingrid Meldahl team at 9:30 a.m. (MT) today followed by a 3:30 p.m. game against Ireland's Fiona Turnbull rink.

Geoff Goodland's USA men's team begins play at 7 tonight against Germany.

All games will be eight ends in length with extra ends used to break ties if necessary. The men's and women's gold medal games are scheduled for 3 p.m. March 31.

Game scores: USA 6, England 5; Germany 10, Ireland 4; Finland 10, Japan 1; Scotland 15, New Zealand 1; Switzerland 10, Sweden 3

Standings:
Finland 1-0
Germany 1-0
Scotland 1-0
Switzerland 1-0
USA 1-0
Canada 0-0
England 0-1
Ireland 0-1
Japan 0-1
New Zealand 0-1
Sweden 0-3

USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics, AmerAust Technologies and Nike as well as by AT&T, General Motors, The Home Depot, and Bank of America through a joint marketing program with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

For more information: Terry Luder, USA Curling, terry.luder@usacurl.org, 715-344-1199