Angel City (#8) holds off Wasatch (#9)

By Lois Slain

The opening bout of the West Region Playoffs had the fans roaring in Craneway Pavillion as the Angel City Derby Girls (#8), of Los Angeles, fought off a tough challenge from Wasatch Roller Derby (#9), of Salt Lake City, who were making their first ever WFTDA Playoffs appearance.

Photo by Donalee Eiri, Photography by D.E.sign

When both teams had all their skaters on the track, they were evenly matched and it looked like it could be anyone’s game. But penalty trouble, particularly jammer penalties, plagued Wasatch during the first half. Angel City was able to take the thin packs and power jams that Wasatch gave them and build momentum that carried them through to a 102-57 lead at the half.

Wasatch definitely had strong runs of their own, beautifully executing strong defensive walls combined with an offensive blocker to help their jammers push through Angel City’s equally strong defense. But it seemed that every time they would launch into a scoring run, penalties would put a stop to it quickly.

Angel City spent plenty of time in the box as well, but Wasatch’s first half blocker penalties were clumped together and their jammers had more trips.

“We’ve been working a lot lately on cleaning up our penalties and being patient and not getting frazzled, to keep ourselves out of the penalty box,” said Angel City skater Rachel Rotten.

At the start of the second period, it looked like Angel City would continue their first half momentum to dominate Wasatch. They held as much as a 67-point lead. But, with about 15 minutes left in the game, Wasatch went on a scoring tear, capitalizing on Angel City’s penalty trouble.

Holding Angel City scoreless for five straight jams, Wasatch closed their scoring deficit to 19 points, with four minutes left on the clock and their large cheering section screaming like crazy in the stands.

Wasatch changed up their second half strategy to focus more on defense, rather than starting with a designated offensive player as they did in the first half, according to Wasatch’s Skatey Gaga.

“We were mostly trying to make sure that we got the back line and making sure we focused on that jammer until offensive opportunities presented themselves. In the first half we were doing offense right away,” she said.

After a series of short, scoreless jams brought the clock under two minutes, Wasatch earned the all-important lead jammer. Having no time outs left, they chose to run the jam for two minutes and take their chances. Unfortunately for the Salt Lake City crowds, it was not quite enough.

“Wasatch is a really great team. They have really great recycling, so one of the things we really had to lock down on was to stop them from doing that,” Rachel Rotten said.

Angel City Derby Girls 172
Wastach Roller Derby 162

Angel City advances to play the Rose City Rollers (#1) at 4 p.m. Friday.