For the first time, the U.S. mixed doubles curling team is going to the Olympic semifinals.

The Americans needed either a win or a loss by Switzerland on Sunday to advance to the final four, but they didn't leave their fate in the hands of someone else. The duo of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin defeated Sweden 8-7 to earn a spot in the next round.

Sweden was able to steal one in the seventh end to even the score at 7-7, setting up a winner-take-all eighth with Team USA owning hammer in the final frame.

On the fourth throw of the eighth, Sweden sat three rocks in the house in front of two U.S. stones. Dropkin called timeout to make sure he had time to think of the right play, and after a chat he threw it to perfection, coming away with a triple takeout that eliminated all Swedish stones. 

Team USA proceeded to pick off Sweden's next two throws. On their final throw, Isabella Wrana tried for a freeze on the button, but her rock didn't curl and it sailed past the Team USA's shot stone, giving the Americans one point and the win.

Sweden opened with three points in the first end, and the U.S. immediately responded. With three American stones on opposites sides of the 12-foot, Wrana's double-takeout attempt was only half successful, and all Thiesse had to do was land Team USA's final rock easily in the house to tie the score at 3-3 going into the third.

Thiesse's team doubled that score in the fourth. With Sweden sitting shot stone alone in a house with two American rocks, Thiesse took that stone out to put the U.S. up, 6-4, at the halfway point.

Both Thiesse and Dropkin were shooting 100 percent through the first four ends of play. Dropkin finished with 11 takeouts, and the duo finished the game shooting 82 percent.

With the win, the U.S. (6-2) clinches a spot in the semifinals for the first time since mixed doubles curling was introduced in the Olympics in 2018. Dropkin and Thiesse will finish round-robin play at 4:05 a.m. ET on Monday when they take on defending gold medalists Italy.

Sweden finished round-robin play 5-4.

SCOREBOARD

Earlier in the day, the U.S. needed a win, and while it didn't come easy, the team of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin were able to steal a victory from Estonia on Sunday to snap a two-game losing skid in Cortina.

The match started with a force in each of the first five ends.

In the sixth, Team USA had a great chance at three, sitting one in the house and one biting just on the outside. All they needed on Thiesse's hammer throw was a takeout of the lone Estonian stone in the eight-foot. Her throw, though, hit a guard on the way down the ice and never made it to the house, and the U.S. was forced to settle for one again and a tied match, 3-3, with two ends to play.

The U.S. took its first lead of the day in the seventh. With the U.S. sitting a lone stone on the button — the only rock in the four-foot — Marie Kaldvee's hammer throw was just wide of a takeout attempt, allowing the Americans to steal a single point and go into the eighth up, 4-3.

Nearly the exact same scenario played out in the eighth. The U.S. was sitting shot stone on the top of the button in front of an Estonian rock at the back. Kaldvee's hammer throw takeout attempt again tapped the U.S. stone, but not enough to move it, and the Americans stole another point to clinch the victory.

SCOREBOARD