2026 Olympic women’s hockey quarterfinal preview: USA vs. Italy
The quarterfinals of the women’s ice hockey tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics are here. One of the most dominant teams in recent memory looks to take another step toward a gold medal, as the United States takes on Italy.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
After a dominant preliminary round, which saw the United States outscore their opponents 20-1 — including a 5-0 win over the defending gold medallists in Canada — the U.S. clinched the top spot in Group A.
As for the host nation, Italy — who haven’t played in the Olympics since 2006 — shocked the hockey world with a 4-1 win over France in their opening game. They would follow that with another win over Italy and two losses to Sweden and Germany, respectively, clinching the No. 8 seed.
WHEN THEY LAST MET
This will be the first time the two teams have faced off in women’s hockey.
TOP SCORERS
United States
Caroline Harvey, 7 pts
Alex Carpenter, 5 pts
Hilary Knight, 5 pts
Abbey Murphy, 5 pts
Four players tied with 4 pts
Italy
Kristin Della Rovere, 4 pts
Matilde Fantin, 3 pts
Kayla Tutino, 2 pts
Three other players tied with 2 pts
SCOUTING REPORT
United States
The U.S. has played near-perfect hockey through its first four games, and it has given up just one goal and has a tournament-leading plus-19 goal differential. Some have called this group the most impressive team we’ve seen in years, and while they haven’t produced any double-digit goal performances like the Canadian and U.S. teams in previous Olympics, they’ve controlled possession for nearly the entire tournament and their 5-0 win over Canada sent shockwaves through the hockey world.
Caroline Harvey is tied for the tournament lead in points with seven, and her plus-minus of plus-10 highlights how effective her two-way game has been for the Americans. She was even compared to Bobby Orr by U.S. men’s hockey star Matthew Tkachuk. Harvey opened the scoring against Canada and will continue to be a major factor for the team going forward.
Harvey, now in her senior season at the University of Wisconsin, highlights the youthful turnover in the U.S. program, with the majority of players born in the 21st century, eight of whom are currently in the NCAA. While PWHL stars like Hilary Knight, Alex Carpenter and Hannah Bilka lead the way in terms of production, college skaters like Joy Dunne and Laila Edwards highlight what’s on the horizon for women’s hockey.
Italy
The Italian squad has been one of the top stories in the Olympics, regardless of the sport, with two wins through four games and strong performances in their losses. For a program that’s ranked 18th in the world and has never finished higher than 16th in the World Championships, a top-eight finish and quarterfinal berth is a success.
A number of players on this team are Canadian-born with Italian lineage, including Kristin Della Rovere, Kayla Tutino and Laura Fortino, the last of which won two Olympic medals with Canada in 2014 and 2018. Della Rovere has two goals and four points in the tournament, while Fortino has played more than 26 minutes in three of the team’s four games.
Matilde Fantin, an Italian native who is in her freshman season at Penn State, scored twice in their win over Japan and has three in the tournament. She has been one of the standout performers in Group B and now has a chance to showcase her talent against the best in the world.
Burning questions
United States: Can they reach double digits in goals?
I know it might be a silly question, but the U.S. hasn’t scored more than five goals in any of their four games. Yes, the competition is better than previous Olympic tournaments, but if this American squad is as dominant as we’re led to believe, then I fully expect a 10-goal effort against the Italians.
Italy: Can they cover the spread?
I’m in no way advocating for gambling, especially for an event as pure as the Olympics. But most of the oddsmakers have the U.S. as -6.5 goal favorites, meaning Italy will have to keep the spread at six goals or less. While scoring a goal on the Americans will prove difficult, stopping their relentless forecheck could be even tougher.
Prediction
The U.S. goes into this game as heavy favorites, and it’s hard to imagine any scenario where they don’t win this game by multiple goals. But while the Americans are technically the home team, expect a capacity crowd to cheer as loud as possible for an Italian squad that’s captured the hearts of hockey fans worldwide. Could Italy go so far as to get one past the U.S. netminder? I say yes.