Duluth, MN

Brandywine Roller Girls secure upset win to Omaha Rollergirls

By Lois Slain

In the very first game of the international 2014 WFTDA Division 2 Playoffs Duluth, the Brandywine Rollergirls (10 seed, #63) gave fans the first seeding upset of tournament season with a hard-fought win over the Omaha Rollergirls (7 seed, #57).

On paper, Brandywine seemed like heavy underdogs in the match against the well-seasoned Omaha team. They earned their Playoffs spot only due to other teams declining their invitations and came to Duluth with a roster of 11. However, they were able to put up a big lead early on and Omaha could never quite close the gap, despite strong offensive and defensive performances.

Brandywine built up about a 40-point lead during the first 15 minutes of the game as Omaha worked through some penalty trouble and found their footing. Top-scoring jammer Skinny Guinea proved particularly elusive for the Omaha defense, ultimately putting up 98 points over the course of the game.

As the period progressed, Brandywine often found themselves with a shorthanded pack and gave Omaha several power jams. Omaha took advantage, but Brandywine’s strong defense kept them from putting up any big-point jams.

With their slow-and-steady progress, Omaha closed the point deficit to 86-69 and had the momentum going into halftime.

Brandywine came out swinging in the second half, and Omaha again stumbled into some early jammer penalties. Brandywine ran with the momentum and built their lead to 136-81.

But the Pennsylvanians began sending blockers and jammers to the penalty box in quick succession. With strong jamming performances from Flash Gloria and Ima Firestarter, Omaha made short work of Brandywine’s lead, coming within 30 points of their opponents.

Brandywine lost Skinny Guinea to injury with 8 mins left in the game, quickly followed by two blockers fouling out by accumulating 7 penalties, leaving their already-short roster with only 8 active skaters. Despite the setbacks, they locked down on defense and gritted out an upset win.

Final score

(10) Brandywine Rollergirls 198
(7) Omaha Rollergirls 144

Brandywine moves on to play #2 seed Detroit Derby Girls Friday evening. Omaha heads into the consolation bracket to play the loser of Game 4.