The Associated Press The United States’ Tabitha Peterson (left), Taylor Anderson-Heide (center) and Cory Thiesse react.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — The U.S. women’s curling team was surprised to learn that their defeat of Canada on Friday marked an Olympic first.

“If that’s true,” caveated Minneapolis native Taylor Anderson-Heide said after the 9-8 nailbiter, “I think we just played a really good game. They’re No. 1 in the world.”

Tara Peterson of Shoreview, Minnesota, chimed in: “It just always feels really good to beat (Canada skip) Rachel Homan. So any team to beat them, that’s pretty impressive.”

Until Friday, the American women had never beaten Canada — a perennial favorite that has medaled in every Winter Games since curling was added to the Olympics in 1998. The U.S. men beat the Canadians for the first time in the 2018 round-robin and again in the semifinals en route to their gold medal victory in Pyeongchang.

Canada’s Team Homan has for years been considered the best in the world.

In Friday’s match, the U.S. managed to capitalize on a few weak shots by Canada. After the win, the Americans walked together down the ice and back to their coaches, raising fists in triumph.

Peterson, like Anderson-Heide, couldn’t help but add a qualifier to her response to questions from The Associated Press: “Apparently, we’ve never beat them in the Olympics before. That makes it just extra special.”

This year’s American women’s curling team — like their Gen-Z men’s counterparts — meld approachability with ambition. Alongside Anderson-Heide and Peterson, the team includes skip Tabitha Peterson, who’s Tara’s older sister, as well as cool-as-a-cucumber Cory Thiesse, who has already won a silver medal in the mixed doubles event. Aileen Geving, from Minnesota, is an alternate.

Three of them have jobs other than curling, and three are mothers to young children. Tara is a dentist, Tabitha a pharmacist and Thiesse a lab technician.

Crosby scores goal

Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby scored in a 5-1 victory over Switzerland as Canada improved to 2-0. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists in men’s hockey.

Thomas Harley and Macklin Celebrini also scored for the tournament favorite.

Elsewhere:

n Japanese snowboarder Yuto Totsuka won the Olympic gold medal in men’s halfpipe. Scotty James of Australia repeated as the silver medalist. Totsuka laid down a massive second run that earned him 95 points. James had the last run of the final but the Australian couldn’t improve on his second-run score of 93.50.

n Matt Weston won Olympic gold in men’s skeleton. Weston dominated four runs over two days, posting a track record in every heat.

n Czech speedskater Metodej Jilek won the Olympic 10,000-meter gold at age 19. Friday’s victory adds to his silver in the 5,000 earlier.

n Norwegian biathlete Strula Holm Laegreid won his second bronze medal — three days after making an unexpected personal confession of being unfaithful to his girlfriend. Laegreid was third in Friday’s sprint race. Quentin Fillon Maillet of France won the gold.

n Norway’s cross-country skiing star Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won an eighth gold medal, tying an all�’time Winter Games record.