Goodland (Eau Claire, Wis.) and teammates Stan Vinge (Waunakee, Wis.), Wally Henry (Beaver Dam, Wis.), Jim Wilson (Winnetka, Ill.) and Mark Swandby (Madison, Wis.) took care of Japan's Satoru Asakawa rink this afternoon with a 9-2 victory. Next up for the Americans: a meeting with the other undefeated team in their pool - Sweden's Claes Roxin at 7 tonight.

The U.S. men (4-0) started strong scoring three in the opening end. Japan (3-2) could only get one in the next end and the U.S. rattled off four straight points scoring two in the third end and stealing singles in the fifth and sixth. Japan was held to just one once again in the sixth end and they conceded the victory in the seventh when the U.S. men set up another deuce.

Pam Oleinik's USA women's team lost its second straight game losing this morning to Canada's Anne Dunn rink, 7-3. Oleinik and teammates Laurie Rahn (Lake Forest, Ill.), JoAnn Matthews (New Berlin, Wis.), Susan Curtis (Rogers, Ark.) and Donna Purkey (Greenwich, Conn.) could only manage single points when they had the last rock advantage compared to the thrifty Canadians. Team USA started out the game settling for one only to have Canada score a deuce and steal the third end to build a 3-1 lead. Another single by the U.S. in the fourth end was followed up by three for the Canadian ladies. The teams traded singles forcing the American ladies to concede. This is Dunn's fourth trip to the Senior Worlds after winning gold in 2002 and 2004.

The Swiss ladies improved to 6-0 with a win over Finland to continue its reign over first place. Canada is a game back at 5-0. The U.S. women are tied for fourth place with Germany. They will play Finland at 3:30 p.m. MT today. After that, the Americans finish the round robin against New Zealand (1-5), Switzerland (6-0), Japan (1-5) and Germany (3-2).

All games are eight ends in length with extra ends used to break ties if necessary. The top four teams in the women's standing advance to the semifinals while the top two teams from Pool A and Pool B in the men's division advance. The men's and women's gold medal games are scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday.

Women's scores: Canada 7, USA 3; Switzerland 6, Finland 4; Ireland 13, Japan 0; Sweden 8, New Zealand 2

Men's scores: USA 9, Japan 2; Sweden 11, Germany 2; France 10, Wales 5; Canada 6, Finland 0; New Zealand 6, Ireland 5; Scotland 5, Switzerland 4 (extra end)

Men's standings:
Pool A
Sweden 4-0
USA 4-0
Japan 3-2
Wales 2-2
Germany 1-3
France 1-4
Norway 0-4

Pool B
Scotland 4-0
Canada 3-1
England 2-2
Finland 2-3
New Zealand 2-3
Ireland 1-3
Switzerland 1-3

Women's standings:
Switzerland 6-0
Canada 5-0
Scotland 4-1
USA 3-2
Germany 3-2
England 3-3
Sweden 2-3
Finland 2-4
Japan 1-5
New Zealand 1-5
Ireland 0-5

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