PYEONGCHANG, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Sochi bronze winner Switzerland won their opener at the women's ice hockey tournament at the PyeongChang Olympics on Saturday night with an overwhelming 8-0 win over a unified Korean women's ice hockey team, first of its kind in the Olympics history.
The Swiss took a quick lead in the first period amid deafening cheers for the unified Korean team after Alina Muller put a shot past goalkeeper Shin So-Jung to start the action at the crowd-packed Kwandong Hockey Center.
The defiant Koreans fought back fiercely but the offensive attempt by Jong Su-Hyon from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was blocked by Swiss goalie Florence Schelling.
The 19-year-old Muller helped Switzerland to build the winning momentum with two other goals to end the period 3-0. The South Korean forward Han Soo-jin contributed the team's most aggressive attempt in the whole game, but her efforts were in vain with the puck hit the net "roof" .
The Korean team suffered another major setback when the shining star Muller made her fourth goal within less two minutes in the second period.
The confident Swiss dominated the rink in the rest of the game as Phoebe Staenz and Lara Stalder gave two goals each in the second and last period respectively.
The resilient Koreans refused to cave in till the last minute of the game, but their poor defense and inexperience cost them too much.
Among the spectators of the eye-catching game were Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK, who led a high-level delegation to South Korea for the Games.
In an earlier game in the evening, Sweden defeated Japan 2-1 to claim their first victory in PyeongChang.
With the victory, Switzerland topped the lower-ranked Group B, which also consists of Japan and Sweden.
Canada, Finland, the Olympics Athletes from Russia, and the United States make up the higher-ranked Group A.
