Canada wins Olympic gold over Sweden in penalties

YOKOHAMA, Japan — The Canadian women's soccer team made history by reaching the Olympic final for the first time. Julia Grosso, with a big assist from goalkeeper Stephanie Labbé, made sure her team was on the right side of it.

Grosso's winner gave Canada a 3-2 decision over Sweden on penalty kicks Friday after the teams were tied at one at the end of regulation and extra time.

After each team scored on two of five tries from the penalty spot, Labbé stopped Jonna Andersson's attempt to set up the dramatic finish. Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl got a piece of Grosso's hard shot but couldn't stop it from finding the back of the net.

The ecstatic Canadian players ran down the field to mob Grosso and Labbé in celebration. The dejected Swedish players gathered at midfield to ponder what went wrong.

Canada won bronze at the 2012 London Games and finished third again four years later in Rio. Sweden reached the 2016 final but settled for silver in a loss to Germany.

Stina Blackstenius scored in the 34th minute for Sweden, but Canada's Jessie Fleming equalized from the penalty spot in the 67th minute.

When the game went to penalty kicks, Fleming gave Canada an early lead before Nathalie Bjorn and Olivia Schough tallied for Sweden. Deanne Rose delivered with Canada's fifth shot to pull even.

Organizers moved the start time of this year's final to 9 p.m. (local time) from the original 11 a.m. kickoff after both federations requested a change to avoid the peak midday heat and humidity.

The venue was also moved from Tokyo's Olympic Stadium to International Stadium Yokohama, just outside the host city. It was still hot and muggy at game time, but more bearable than the sweltering conditions earlier in the day.

There were a few vocal