SOCHI, Russia — Sweden defenseman Emma Eliasson is an iron ore miner who lives about a two-drive from Finland above the Arctic Circle, and she is a three-time Olympian who played in the bronze medal loss to the Finns four years ago.

So she speaks with authority when she says, “We are like the worst enemies ever.”

Eliasson’s slapshot eluded two-time NCAA champion goalie Noora Raty and helped Sweden beat Finland 4-2 on Saturday in the Olympic women’s hockey quarterfinals. The victory over their Scandinavian archrivals put the Swedes in the semifinals against the United States.

“I’m so happy, I’m just shaking,” said Sweden forward Erika Grahm, who assisted on the go-ahead goal with 4:15 left in the game.

Anna Borgqvist, Lina Wester and Emma Nordin also scored for Sweden, and Valentina Wallner made 29 saves. Raty, who went 41-0-0 to lead the University of Minnesota to its second straight national championship last year, made 28 saves for Finland but she could not see Eliasson’s slapshot from the blue line that held up as the game-winner.

Curling

SOCHI, Russia — Canada virtually sealed its place in the semifinals of women’s Olympic curling by beating Japan 8-6 on Saturday for a sixth straight win.

No team — men’s or women’s — has failed to advance after winning six round-robin games since the tournament expanded to 10 teams in 2002.

The race to join the Canadians in the playoffs heated up with Britain beating South Korea 10-8 and China defeating Sweden 7-6.

China, Britain and Sweden are in a three-way tie for second at 4-2.

Canada is guaranteed at least to be in a tiebreaker for the playoffs. It will be assured a semifinal spot by beating Russia in Saturday’s evening session.

Speedskating

SOCHI, Russia — Zhou Yang of China qualified for the women’s 1,500-meter short track speedskating final on Saturday, giving her a chance to defend the Olympic title she won four years ago.

Zhou won her semifinal. In the final later in the day, she’ll be up against Shim Suk-hee of South Korea, who finished second to Zhou in their semi.

Also reaching the final were Li Jianrou of China, Kim Alang of South Korea, Arianna Fontana of Italy, Jorien ter Mors of the Netherlands and Emily Scott of Springfield, Mo.

The American advanced to the final after South Korea’s Cho Ha-ri was disqualified. The referees ruled Cho shoved Scott as she attempted an outside pass in the turn. Scott was the lone American to move on after Jessica Smith of Melvindale, Mich., finished fourth in her semifinal.

Bobsled

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — The top U.S. Olympic women’s bobsled sustained damage to its front end at after a fast training run Saturday.

Elana Meyers and brakeman Lauryn Williams completed their practice run down the Sanki Sliding Center course in 57.50 seconds — 0.34 seconds faster than any other sled — before banging a wall in the outrun. The pair did not take their second run so mechanics could fix the BMW-designed sled.

On Friday, Meyers crashed the sled at the bottom of the course on her first run. She and alternate brakeman Katie Eberling were uninjured and made a second run in USA-1 without incident, posting one of the session’s fastest times.