🇺🇸 United States 5-0 Switzerland 🇨🇭
Olympic Preliminary Round
Unipol Dome, Milan 🇮🇹
Monday, 09 February 2026

Caroline Harvey and Joy Dunne starred with a goal and two assists apiece and the U.S. pulled away in the third period to beat Switzerland 5-0 on Monday.

The Americans, the reigning world champions, have a perfect 3-0 record in Group A.

Alex Carpenter had a goal and an assist for the U.S., and Haley Winn and Hannah Bilka got their first career Olympic goals. Captain Hilary Knight added two assists and now has 31 career Olympic points, one shy of the U.S. record held by Jenny Potter (née Schmidgall) (32).

The Swiss have yet to record a goal against the Americans in four tries in Olympic history.

The Americans now gear up for the marquee matchup of the preliminary round: a showdown with defending Olympic champion Canada for top spot in Group A on Tuesday. The U.S. has two Olympic Gold medals (1998, 2018) to Canada’s five (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2022), and the North American sides have faced each other in six out of seven Olympic finals. Not without reason is this viewed as one of the greatest rivalries in international sports.

Switzerland finishes off its preliminary round on Tuesday versus Finland. The Swiss have two points to Finland’s zero, and can overtake the Czechs to finish third in Group A with a win.

Top Swiss goalie Andrea Brändli returned in net and battled hard after missing the first two games due to illness.

U.S. goalie Aerin Frankel got the night off as Gwyneth Philps made her first Olympic debut. The Ottawa Charge netminder memorably took over from Frankel in the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship game when the Boston Fleet star was injured in a collision with Canada’s Laura Stacey. Philps did not surrender a goal in that 4-3 overtime victory, and was dialed in again here in Milan, facing quality shots if not a huge quantity.

The Swiss came out with spirit, but the American edge in skill and depth soon began to show. Brändli flashed her glove to stone Taylor Heise on a breakaway five minutes in.

The Americans activated their defence to open the scoring at 6:04. Off a faceoff in the Swiss end, Harvey – who leads all NCAA defenders with 54 points for Wisconsin this year – skated the puck into the corner and centred it to her partner Winn on the doorstep to put it in.

Switzerland had some chances to tie it up. Midway through the first period, Ivana Wey rang a long shot off the post. Philps was dazzling during the game’s first power play with Rory Guilday off for tripping, stretching out to rob Rahel Enzler. Still, first-period shots favoured the U.S. 18-6.

Early in the second period, it was Harvey’s turn to hit the post from long range. She dipsy-doodled her way through the Swiss defence and nearly scored moments later.

An aggressive U.S. forecheck bore fruit when Dunne grabbed the puck behind the net and flung a backhander that deflected in off Swiss blueliner Stefanie Wetli’s skate at 14:08. Yes, the unassisted goal required a lucky bounce, but the U.S. was making its own luck.

The U.S. took a 3-0 lead at 1:17 of the third period, fueled by another great Harvey play. She circled the Swiss net and slid the puck into the right faceoff to Heise, who promptly sent it to Bilka in front for the goal.

Moments later, Hayley Scamurra thought she had scored her third goal of the tournament after converting her own big rebound in the high slot. But the Swiss challenged the play for goaltender interference, as Dunne had made contact with Brändli, and the goal was called back.

Just past the four-minute mark of the third, Switzerland’s Laura Zimmermann was denied by Philips’ glove on a 2-on-1 rush attempt.

Carpenter, sent in alone on a breakaway by Knight, made it 4-0 U.S. at 6:34. Just over a minute later, Carpenter played the set-up role on Harvey’s 5-0 goal, as the slick blueliner jumped in from the left point and beat Brändli with a forehand deke.

The Swiss lost their three previous Olympic games with the U.S. 6-0 (2006), 9-0 (2014), and 8-0 (2022). In the last meeting in Beijing, Knight, Kelly Pannek, and Jesse Compher led the way with two goals apiece.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
06:04 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Winn (Harvey, Knight)
12:31 – 🇺🇸 PEN – Guilday, tripping

2nd Period
25:50 – 🇨🇭 PEN – Lutz, body checking
34:08 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Dunne
38:36 – 🇺🇸 PEN – Murphy, body checking

3rd Period
41:17 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Bilka (Heise, Harvey)
46:34 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Carpenter (Knight, Dunne)
47:42 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Harvey (Carpenter, Dunne)

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇺🇸 Philips (20-20), McNaughton (1-1)
L: 🇨🇭 Brändli (45-50)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇺🇸 18+19+13 = 50
🇨🇭 6+9+6 = 21

ROSTERS
🇺🇸 Goaltenders: Ava McNaughton, Gwyneth Philips. Defence: Cayla Barnes, Laila Edwards, Rory Guilday, Caroline Harvey, Megan Keller (A), Lee Stecklein, Haley Winn. Forwards: Hannah Bilka, Alex Carpenter (A), Kendall Coyne, Britta Curl, Joy Dunne, Taylor Heise, Tessa Janecke, Hilary Knight (C), Abbey Murphy, Kelly Pannek, Hayley Scamurra, Kirsten Simms, Grace Zumwinkle.
🇨🇭 Goaltenders: Andrea Brändli, Saskia Maurer. Defence: Alessia Baechler, Annic Büchi, Lara Christen, Laure Mériguet, Shannon Sigrist, Nicole Vallario, Stefanie Wetli. Forwards: Leoni Balzer, Rahel Enzler, Naemi Herzig, Sinja Leemann, Lena-Marie Lutz, Alina Marti, Alina Müller (A), Kaleigh Quennec (A), Noemi Ryhner, Vanessa Schaefer, Lara Stalder (C), Ivana Wey, Laura Zimmermann.

Article Credit: Milan 2026
Photo Credit: Milan 2026 – IIHF – HHOF – IOC