Windy City (#1) Easily Advances to Semi-finals with Win Over Brewcity (#9)

by Vile Love It

In their second bout of the day, Milwaukee’s Brewcity Bruisers (#9) took on the Windy City Rollers of Chicago (#1) in Windy’s first game of the tournament. It was the first time these teams have ever met in sanctioned play.

“I feel that Windy City is like a big sister to us,” said Scooter, one of Brewcity’s jammers.

And the big sisters took their job seriously, showing them how it is done. Windy outscored Brewcity, won lead jam status more often and had fewer penalty minutes. They controlled the pack with constant cycling and intensely solid walls that foiled Brewcity’s jammers again and again.

There were also jams where the score did not reflect the game play, where Brewcity made Windy’s jammer fight for every hip she passed; it just wasn’t enough. Nothing dampened Brewcity’s intensity or their stamina, as they took hit after hit and kept fighting.

“The game was amazing and I feel like I learn so much when I play them,” said Scooter. “My personal strategy was to go out and have fun. We go in to learn something but to have fun while doing it. I always have a smile on my face, even when they are throwing me around.”

Photo by Bob Dunnell

In one jam, Brewcity’s jammer Zotay made a high leap over the inside corner of turn four to the cheers of the crowd. Unfortunately, as occasionally happens, she connected with another player in mid air and had to head to the box when she landed.

It was also clear that Windy City did not underestimate their opponent and continued to pressure Brewcity with strategy, force and speed.

“The game was a good opportunity for us to fine-tune some things, to work as a team and play a team we really admire and respect,” said blocker and jammer Kola Loka of Windy City. “And it was a lot of fun.”

Windy’s defense was able to hold Brew City’s jammers to no points in 20 jams during the game, while their offense scored several high-point jams including two 25-point and one 30-point jam among others. Windy outscored Brewcity in the first half 149-37. Brewcity did their best to adjust in the second half, but only managed 39 points in that half to Windy’s 166.

Windy City Rollers (#1) 315
Brewcity Bruisers (#9) 76