When the joint Korean women's hockey team takes on Switzerland in an Olympic rematch, the young players will be more "emotionally ready" than the previous game, their coach said Saturday.

Switzerland fell to the Olympic Athletes of Russia team 6-2 in the quarterfinals at Kwandong Hockey Centre in Gangneung on Saturday. The loss dropped the Swiss to the classification stage, where the unified Korean team awaits them for their second showdown at 12:10 p.m. Sunday.

The joint team, made up of 23 South Koreans and 12 North Koreans, lost the first game 8-0. But head coach Sarah Murray said they won't get blown away so easily this time.

"The first game (against Switzerland) was our first game in the Olympics. I think our girls were nervous," she said after Saturday's practice at Kwandong. "We have a lot of young girls. I think the girls are a lot more prepared. It's our fourth game. We know what Switzerland can do. We've already played against them."

Korea was badly overmatched in all aspects of the earlier game and got outshot 52-8. But Murray made sure the players would be better prepared both mentally and physically for the second meeting.

For her Saturday's practice, Murray ran her regulars through some hard drills because, "We don't want to have an easy practice. We want to practice the way we want to play in the game.

"We've had a lot of good practices together," the coach continued. "I think our girls are more emotionally and mentally ready." (Yonhap)