DC (#10) upsets Steel City (#5)

By Vile Love It

The players were the same, but the play was very different.

The DC All Stars (#10), Washington, DC who showed up in today’s bout against Steel City Derby Demons (#5), Pittsburgh, PA should have played yesterday. DC held Steel City scoreless for 7 minutes until Steel City was able to earn lead jam and put 8 points on the scoreboard.

Photo by Manish Gosalia

But after the log jam was broken, Steel City’s Hurricane Heather lapped the pack while DC’s Marion Barrycuda struggled to find a way out of it. When she did, it was to head out to the penalty box.

Halfway through the first period, Steel had pulled to within 15 points when their jammer hit the penalty box and DC was able to maintain a lead. The teams traded off power jams and with 7 minutes left in the half it was a 13 point game with DC still in the lead.

Both teams employed the passive offense during their power jams to varying degrees of success. A 4 on 1 is a tough go for even the most talented jammer. But both teams were able to score significant amounts during their respective power plays.

As the intensity on the track ratcheted up, so did the speed of the packs until both teams were racing around trying to keep their walls together and the jammers tried to catch the extra speed they needed to get to the other side of the pack.

With only a few minutes left in the half, DC’s jammer Marion Barrycuda headed to the box and left Steel City’s ‘snot Rocket Science on the track and she made expert use of the time pulling her team even and then ahead of DC.

At the half it was Steel City 109, DC 101.

DC came out as strong as they did in the first half with some stellar and strategic jamming by Jackie Mae Day who snuck by the Steel City blockers to grab her box points as well as two track points and call it right before ‘snot Rocket Science could score putting DC back in the lead.

But then, DC’s jammer Chinese Checker headed to the box and Steel City capitalized on the power jam. Towards the end of the jam, after she’d been released from the box, Chinese Checker headed back to it again and Steel City’s Hurricane Heather started the Steel City power jam.

By the end of that jam, 6 minutes into the second period, Steel City had pulled ahead by 40 points.

Shortly thereafter, in spectacular fashion, Steel City’s ‘snot Rock Science ate the baby, as she skated backwards creating a solid wall and DC’s Jackie Mae Day was swallowed back into the pack.

Halfway through the period there was a mass exodus off the track into the penalty box and for a few seconds, each team had one blocker and DC had the lone jammer. DC pulled within 19 points of Steel City.

With 12 minutes left and DC on the power jam, Jersey Jill fought her way through the intrepid Steel City blockers as they slowed her down. She made her way through to score 17 points but Hurricane Heather exited the pack with a bang and scored 7, delivering a solid hit on Jersey Jill in corner 2.

With 10 minutes left in the game it was a 17 point game. The jam started and Hurricane Heather cut the track on her initial pass and headed back to the box along with one of her blockers; and then another Steel City blocker, and then another one. DC could see a light at the end of the tunnel and the crowd erupted.

A steady stream of Steel City blockers headed in and out of the box and by the end of the jam it was a 7 point game.

“We came into the weekend super prepared. We had had a very good streak of wins in our season. We lost out team play in the tournament and went back to playing rouge,” said Steel City’s ‘snot Rocket Science. “Our penalties were a huge issue in both games, especially jammer penalties. You can’t score points if your jammers are sitting in the box.”

DC’s Lenore Gore took the line and was able to earn lead and score a few points as well as holds Steel City off from scoring. With 5 minutes left it was a 3 point game.

Both jammers headed to the box one after the other and then were quickly released and then Steel City’s jammer headed back to the box for one more trip, this time for the full minute. At that point, the crowd rose to its feet as a seemingly exhausted Lenore Gore kept on scoring and with 3:45 left in the game DC was in the lead 226-208.

“It was an amazing experience. I’m really proud of my team. We have trained for months for this,” said DC’s Lenore Gore. “We hit our stride 15 minutes into our game with Boston yesterday and today we just went out there full force playing our game. We knew that if we pushed we could break through Steel City’s walls and we knew that if we juked we could avoid their slower hits and we just kept our focus and played our game.”

For the remainder of the game DC needed to stay clean, keep lead, and keep Steel City from scoring. And they did, for the most part.

Before the final jam, the score sat at DC 237 Steel City 220. It was still either team’s game. Both team’s jammers had made several trips to the penalty box though DC had managed to stay out of it for a while.

And they did. The double whistle blew and through the scrum came DC’s jammer and when the clock ran out it was DC’s game.

DC Rollergirls (#10) 239
Steel City (#5) 223