(Photo credit: REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo)

MILAN, Italy -- Italy is prepared for an uphill battle after unexpectedly reaching the women's Olympic ice hockey quarterfinals, but go into a clash with the heavily favored United States feeling no pressure.

The underdog hosts defied the odds and the doubters by winning two games, against France and Japan, which was enough to finish third in Group B and set up Friday's meeting with the Group A winners.

The U.S. are two-time gold medalists and strolled to top their group on maximum points, beating defending champions Canada 5-0 along the way.

Italy coach Eric Bouchard was asked how difficult it was to prepare for the task ahead.

'It's not difficult. I mean, it's a challenge, but it's a great one,' Bouchard told reporters after a practice session on Thursday.

'You have the chance to face the best hockey team in the world, and there's no pressure on our shoulders right now. The only thing we can do is just go out there and perform,' he said.

'They might have a lot of talent, they have depth, but there's something we control, and that's the work ethic and the willingness to leave everything we have out there. That doesn't require talent, and I think that's the focus we have right now.'

Bouchard praised his players' attitude in the days leading up to the game.

'They're dialed in, honestly, this was our best practice so far,' he said.

'They were focused, they were on task, they wanted to prepare for tomorrow. They know it's a huge challenge, but everybody's excited.

'We're playing for our country, and we want to make sure we play with pride for everyone who's going to be watching out there.'

Italy was never supposed to make it this far, and goes into what most believe will definitely be its final contest of the Milan Cortina Games knowing that it will take something extraordinary in order to survive.

'We knew that we were coming in as the underdogs, the lowest-ranked team, but we also believed in ourselves,' Italy defender Jacquie Pierri said.

'It's really cool to be here now a week later with what we've accomplished. And the next challenge we have tomorrow, we know we're facing a huge uphill battle.

'Anything can happen on any given day,' Pierri said, 'and we're going to try our best to take advantage of whatever luck we get and make it as hard for them as possible, physically and mentally.

--Reuters, special to Field Level Media