Rose City (#1) staves off fierce effort by Angel City (#7)

By Lois Slain

The Angel City Derby Girls (#8), of Los Angeles, had a tough task ahead of them, going up against #1 seed Rose City Rollers, of Portland, Oregon, just hours after a hard-won bout against Wasatch Roller Derby (#9). However, they proved that they were up to the challenge.

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

Rose City started off the bout strong, putting up 19 unanswered points before Angel City could finally get just 2 points of their own on the board. With the score sitting at 58-12 about 15 minutes in, Rose City seemed poised to deliver a blowout win.

However, Angel City regained their footing and slowed Rose City’s scoring runs, while also eking out a few points of their own. When Rose City had their jammer and full compliment of blockers in the box, Angel City was ready to strike. After a big jam from Cris Dobbins, Angel City was only 17 points behind.

Rose City worked to kill their penalty trouble and add a few more points back to their lead before halftime, bringing the score to 86-60.

Much like the first half, Rose City started the second period off by piling on the points. After a couple of 4-0 jams, a power jam for Rose City brought them to a 50-point lead.

There were ample penalties for both teams but, for much of the period, Rose City did a better job of capitalizing on their opponent’s penalty trouble. Angel City was hampered on many of their power jams by their blockers heading to the box on pack destruction penalties.

In the final few minutes of the game, Angel City went on another scoring spree, finally spinning Rose City’s blocker and jammer penalties into points gold and making it an approximately 50-point game.

Rose City Rollers (#1) 194
Angel City Derby Girls (#7) 147

Rose City advances to the semifinals on Day 2.