The Brock Badgers women’s curling team has punched its ticket to the semifinal round at the 2018 USPORTS/Curling Canada Curling Championships in Leduc, Alberta.

Another two wins on Day 3 at the Championships improved the Badgers’ record to a tournament-leading 5-1. With only one round-robin game to go, Brock can finish no worse than a tie for first, guaranteeing them a spot in Tuesday night’s semifinal round and ensuring that they’ll play for either a gold or bronze medal Wednesday.

After their seventh round-robin game Tuesday at 5 p.m. EST against Alberta, the Badgers will play again in the semifinal at 9:30 p.m. EST Tuesday against either Mount Allison, Alberta or Thompson Rivers, who are all currently tied for second with equal 4-2 records. The finals, for the two teams that advance, will be Wednesday at 2 p.m. EST with CBC providing live streaming online.

“We’ve surprised a lot of teams. The OUAs were a little bit of a tougher go, but they’re putting it all together now,” Brock curling coach Murray Etherington said from Leduc Monday night after the Badgers beat Queen’s 8-4 in Game 6. “We really got a handle on the ice.”

The Brock women qualified for the Nationals by winning bronze at the OUA championships last month. But in Leduc, they’ve outscored the competition 55-30, having only lost to Thompson Rivers in Game 3 of the round robin.

The women’s team is skipped by senior Terri Weeks with senior Joanna Francolini as lead, but even the two second-year curlers on the team, second Marcia Richardson and third Jessica Humphries, both have experience playing at the Canadian Junior Championships with their club teams.

Etherington is hoping all that combined experienced will help them in Tuesday night’s semifinal.

“Making the playoffs was goal number one, so for now we’ll enjoy the evening, but tomorrow we’ll refocus,” he said.

On the men’s side of the tournament, the OUA champion Badgers haven’t had as much luck. Brock won Game 1 over University of New Brunswick and Game 3 over Ryerson, but has lost the other four games to Waterloo, Winnipeg, Dalhousie and Regina.

Unfortunately for the Eric Bradey-skipped team of Benjamin Hughes, Nick Lemieux and Jamie Waters, even a win in their final round-robin game Tuesday at 3 p.m. EST against Alberta won’t be enough to get the Badgers men in to the playoffs.

2018 USPORTS/Curling Canada Curling Championships Brock Badgers Women’s Draw
W 14-5 vs. Mount Allison
W 7-4 vs Regina
L 8-2 vs. Thompson Rivers
W 10-5 vs. Laurier
W 14-4 vs. Memorial
W 8-4 vs. Queens
Tuesday, March 27, 3 p.m. vs. Alberta
Tuesday, March 27, 9:30 p.m. Semifinal Round
Wednesday, March 28, 2 p.m. Gold/Bronze Medal Round

2018 USPORTS/Curling Canada Curling Championships Brock Badgers Men’s Draw
W 11-6 vs. University of New Brunswick
L 8-5 vs vs. Waterloo
W 9-7 vs. Ryerson
L 9-5 vs. Winnipeg
L 5-3 vs. Dalhousie
L 7-6 vs. Regina
Tuesday, March 27, 3 p.m. vs. Alberta