Two decades in the making! The U.S. women’s hockey team won the gold medal after beating Canada in a historic match at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on Thursday, February 22. Canada has won the last four Olympic gold medals.
Following a 20-minute overtime, and a penalty shootout that also ended in a 2-2 tie, the teams went into a sudden-death shootout. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson delivered the winning goal to make it 3-2.
This is the fourth time that Team USA and Canada have played each other since 1998, when USA last took home the gold. Since that matchup, Canada has won the gold in the last four Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014), with three of the wins being over the USA. Fans will remember Canada beating USA 3-2 in overtime at the 2014 Winter Olympics is Sochi, Russia.
The first time USA and Canada played each other during the 2018 Winter Olympics, Canada won 2-1.
Us Weekly exclusively spoke to Team USA’s women’s hockey players about their motivation.
“I think it’s super important to be confident with who you are and embrace your originality and your individuality and just be strong with who you are,” Hilary Knight said.
“Always believe in yourself,” Alex Rigsby added. “I mean, there’s going to be people along the way who might doubt you, but it’s all about proving them wrong. You know, having that mentality that whatever you set your mind to, you can accomplish.”
This article originally appeared in US Weekly.