Krista McCarville punches ticket to Olympic curling trials in Saskatoon

Veteran Thunder Bay, Ont., skip Krista McCarville is heading back to another Olympic curling trials, her third appearance, after winning the A-side qualifier at the pre-trials in Liverpool, N.S., on Saturday night.

McCarville defeated Jacqueline Harrison from Dundas, Ont., 9-6 to earn the first pre-trials ticket to the big event in Saskatoon in late-November.

The Grade 6 teacher and mother of two, alongside her team of Kendra Lilly, Ashley Sippala and Sarah Potts now have the chance to represent Canada in Beijing should they win the Olympic trials.

"I feel ecstatic right now. I'm over-the-moon excited right now and so proud of our team and of our battles," McCarville told CBC Sports.

"Our hard work paid off today. I don't think I've ever had a day like this where we've been down big in two games and come back to win. It's hard to even believe what we did today. We just don't give up."

McCarville had her draw weight early in the game and faced some pressure early on. Facing three Harrison stones around the four-foot, McCarville delivered a perfect rock to the button to take a 1-0 lead.

But the game took a turn in the second end. Harrison made a brilliant double takeout with her final stone to score five, making it 5-1 heading into the third.

McCarville is no stranger to comebacks, including one earlier Saturday, and she started to claw back into the game with two in the third to cut down the lead to 5-3.

The Northern Ontario team kept the pressure on in the fourth end, forcing Harrison to throw a difficult draw against two McCarville stones. Harrison's draw was a little heavy, giving McCarville a steal of two and tying the game at 5-5.

McCarville picked up a fourth stolen point of the game by stealing a single in the ninth to increase her lead to 9-6 heading to the final end.

She would run Harrison out of stones in the 10th end to secure the victory and the Olympic trials berth.

"We play better when there's a lot on the line. All four of us really trust each other," McCarville said.

McCarville was able to make it into the A-side final game by virtue of a mini-miracle finish against Mackenzie Zacharias just a game earlier.

Down 7-3 in the 10th end, McCarville mounted a remarkable comeback by scoring four in the final end and then stealing the victory in the extra end.