SOCHI, Russia (AP) - Stefanie Marty scored midway through the first period and Florence Schelling stopped 41 shots on Saturday to give Switzerland a 2-0 victory over Russia and a spot in the Olympic women’s hockey semifinals.
Lara Stalder added an empty-netter with 21 seconds left for Switzerland, which will face top-seeded Canada in the semifinals on Monday.
Anna Prugova made 27 saves for Russia, which moves to the classification round and can finish no better than fifth.
Schelling, who went to Northeastern University in Boston, was flattened by Russia captain Yekaterina Smolentseva in a collision midway through the second period. The trainer came out to look at her, but she stayed in the game and resumed her shutout.
Although the puck-shaped Shayba Arena in Sochi’s coastal cluster is less than half the size of the Bolshoy Ice Dome next door, where the Russian men played the United States, it had an enthusiastic crowd of 4,972 that waved Russian flags, blew horns and screamed for every rush at the net.
But Team Russia, which finished third at the world championships, was unable to follow up with a spot in the medal round on its home soil despite outshooting the Swiss 41-27.
Marty scored in the first period, then the teams spent much of the rest of the game trading odd-man rushes. But the goalies stopped everything else that came their way.
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