Kalamazoo, MI

NEO leaves Carolina behind and moves on

By Vile Love It

NEO Roller Derby (5 seed, ranked 51) out of Akron, Ohio, and the Carolina Roller Girls (4 seed, ranked 50) from Raleigh, North Carolina, played an exciting, tight game filled with power jams and lead changes that required nerves of steel for both the players and the fans.

Jammer penalties made the biggest difference for both teams. In the first period, Carolina gave up only 3 power jams while NEO gave up 6. In the second period, NEO was able to tighten up and only gave up 2 power jams where Carolina gave up 5.

NEO started strong, holding Carolina scoreless for the first five jams of the bout until Carolina caught back-to-back power jams and was able to put some points onto the scoreboard. By the end of it, the score was 34-15 with NEO in the lead.

The first period was full of low scoring jams as both teams chipped away at each other’s defenses. With less than 10 minutes left, both jammers committed fouls almost simultaneously and sat, though only for a few seconds. As the jam clocked ticked on, the same thing happened again.

With only minutes left in the first period, Carolina’s jammer Sheeza Freak (#75) caught a power jam and was able to toss 20 points onto her teams score and pull Carolina to within 20 points of NEO. They were within striking distance.

The tension mounted on both benches as Carolina started the next jam with the jammer advantage. Meanwhile, NEO’s jammer, in a second of confusion, left the penalty box before her time was up. She was called on an illegal procedure and had to sit back down. By the end of that jam, Sheeza Freak had pulled Carolina even closer: 78-63.

But NEO wasn’t done. Carolina’s jammer Katie Clysmic (#26) launched herself for an apex jump but missed her landing and so she headed to the box to giving NEO a chance to keep their lead and pull further ahead. Unfortunately, NEO’s Hummuscide (#V8) tried to mohawk around the Carolina blockers on her way through the pack and touched out of bounds -- back to the box.

Carolina’s Sheeza Freak earned a stunning 35 points, putting her team on top at the half: 107-93.

For the first five minutes of the second half, it seemed that the momentum of the first period would continue as penalties kept NEO down. Similar to the jammer penalties, the teams traded penalty advantages in the periods. In the first period Carolina had 16 penalty minutes but in the second half they had 24, whereas NEO had 22 penalty minutes in the first half and only 11 in the second half.

Carolina’s Caddy Compton (#187) collected 20 points before heading to the box, but she only sat for a bit because NEO’s Finnish-HER (#96) headed to the box. After the do-si-do, Carolina sat on a good-sized lead: 145-97.

Carolina held the lead for the first 8 jams of the second period. NEO held the lead for the next 8 jams. With almost 11 minutes left in the bout, it was still anyone’s game and each jam was a furious fight. At one point, with a box full of Carolina’s blockers (2 sitting, 1 standing) and despite losing lead jam status at the start, Carolina held NEO to only 4 points as Carolina’s Daisy Rage (#66) freed her jammer quickly to limit the damage.

“It was a hard-fought game on both sides. Penalties got us in trouble, but they also helped us. Most importantly, we had a lot of fun,” said Carolina’s Beth Row (#20). “We work really hard on our 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 blocking in practice in order to prepare for penalties and it served us well today.”

With only a few minutes left, NEO’s Twin Pistol (#357) went to the box and Carolina’s Sheeza Freak got another power jam. Although there were only 2 NEO blockers on the track for a bit, she was clearly exhausted and struggleed to keep going. A bit later she heads to the box but not before earning 19 points to push her team back into the lead: 169-155.

But the very next jam, NEO’s Mary Kaos (#46N2) took it back by weaving through the micro pack and collecting 20 points. The score was 169-175 with NEO in the lead.

During the final few minutes of the game Carolina did everything it could to grab back the lead but another jammer penalty gave NEO a 22-point power jam and NEO was able to put a lock on the scoreboard and held Carolina to only 3 points in the final jams.

“Today’s game against Carolina was really tough. Carolina had all the momentum going into the second half. It was our job to stay calm and stay out of the box,” said NEO’s Captain Sicilian Slicer (#52). “We focused on keeping their jammer behind us or in the box. We needed to stay out of the box in order to win and were able to accomplish that in the second half.”

Final score

(5) NEO Roller Derby 213
Carolina Rollergirls 172

NEO advances to the semifinals on Day 2 and will play (1) Santa Cruz Derby Girls; Carolina plays (10) Suburbia Roller Derby in the consolation round.