The U.S. women’s curling team saw a three-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday against the last place team in the standings. Italy took control early and ran away with a 7-2 victory over the Americans.

It wasn’t a good start for Team USA, and mistakes just kept compounding early. After blanking the first two ends with hammer, they allowed Italy to steal one in the third after Stephania Constantini drew to the button and froze to a U.S. rock with her final throw and Tabitha Peterson opted not to try to take it out.

It was the first time Italy stole an end in this tournament, and they weren’t done. In the fourth, the four-foot was open which would have allowed the U.S. to get one if they opened for a draw. Instead, Peterson tried for a heavy throw and a triple takeout. If she made it, it would have given her team four, but she missed. She hit just one rock and her stone rolled, allowing Italy to steal two more.

The stealing spree didn’t end there. In the fifth, Constantini took out a U.S. stone and pushed another back to leave her team lying two on opposites sides of the house. Again, Peterson opted for a takeout that would have given her team multiple points, but again she missed. Her rock hit her own guard and never made it in, allowing the Italians to steal one more and go into the break up, 4-0, on all stolen points.

"It was definitely a struggle for us out there," said U.S. third Cory Thiesse. "Me, especially, just kind of had a hard time getting a feel on the ice and I felt like we were kind of chasing the whole game and couldn't really get 100% out of all of our shots."

The U.S. scored for the first time when Peterson drew to the button for one in the sixth, but Italy got it right back in the seventh – their first end with hammer - to stay up by four with three ends remaining.

After the U.S. had to settle for just one in the eighth, Italy finished the match off in the ninth. With the hammer, Constantini took out the lone American stone sitting in the house and added two points for her team for the final five-point win.

The U.S. outshot Italy, 82-79 percent, but Italy had the upperhand on draw shot percentage (91-81 percent) and takeouts (36-26).

Monday was Italy’s (1-5) first win of the tournament.

"They're a great team. They played great tonight," Thiesse said. "They're a lot better team than what their record shows this week, so props to them on playing such a great game."

With the loss, the Americans fall to 4-2, but they’re still tied for second in the standings. They’ll look to get back in the win column on Tuesday morning when they take on Denmark at 8:05 a.m. ET.

"It's certainly not ideal, but I think you just forget about this one," Thiesse said. "We've been playing really well all week and have had a really great grasp on the ice, and we have more games to come, and we still control our own destiny. So just keeping with that, we keep moving forward."

Italy be back to face Japan at the same time on Tuesday.

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