TURIN, ITALY - The quest for a third Canadian gold medal in women's curling at the Winter World University Games begins on Thursday for the Pandas. 

The quintet of Serena Gray-Withers (skip), Catherine Clifford (third), Brianna Cullen (second), Zoe Cinnamon (lead) and Gracelyn Richards (alternate) will begin the 2025 FISU Games with a match against Poland, the first of nine round robin games for Team Canada. 

The Pandas were selected to represent Canada by virtue of winning the 2024 U SPORTS Championship in Fredericton, the third-straight U SPORTS title for the Pandas Curling program. They will be aiming to win the first Canadian gold in women's curling since the Pandas team skipped by Kelsey Rocque accomplished the feat at the 2017 Games in Almaty, Kazakhstan. 

2025 will mark the second Winter World University Games for Gray-Withers, Clifford and Cullen, who also competed for Canada in 2023 in Lake Placid, placing 7th. Clifford — who was the Canadian flag bearer during the opening ceremonies — also qualified for the 2021 Games in Lucerne, Switzerland which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

Along with their opener against Poland, the Pandas will also see South Korea, Great Britan, USA, Italy, Sweden, Japan, Norway and China in round robin play, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinal on January 21st.

Both semifinals, as well as the bronze and gold medal matches will be streamed on FISU.TV. 

Canada Women's Curling Schedule

DATE	TIME	OPPONENT
Thursday, January 16	1:00 AM	Poland
Thursday, January 16	11:00 AM	South Korea
Friday, January 17	4:00 AM	Great Britan
Friday, January 17	12:00 PM	USA
Saturday, January 18	6:00 AM	Italy
Sunday, January 19	12:00 AM	Sweden
Sunday, January 19	8:00 AM	Japan
Monday, January 20	1:00 AM	Norway
Monday, January 20	11:00 AM	China
Tuesday, January 21	8:00 AM/12:00 PM	Semifinals
Wednesday, January 22	6:00 AM	Bronze Medal
Thursday, January 23	2:00 AM	Gold Medal

* all times listed as Mountain Standard Time (Edmonton)