Kitchener-Waterloo, ON

by Whacks Poetic

Both teams came into today’s game having something to prove at the WFTDA 2014 Division 2 Kitchener-Waterloo Playoffs. The Chicago Outfit (Chicago, IL) fell to the Killamazoo Derby Darlins yesterday and the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls (Grand Rapids, MI) suffered a tough loss to the Gold Coast Derby Grrls. At the start of this season, Grand Raggidy beat The Outfit handily, 331-115. In this confrontation, The Outfit would end up taking the game 202-153 but not without some serious challenges from the Michiganers.

Photo by Steve Jurkovic

Ten seed Grand Raggidy started out the game looking likely to upset their Chicago brethren who came into the tournament as a 5 seed. The Michigan team took a quick lead going up 30-5 by the ten minute mark thanks to the jamming of Lucy Morals, Ultra Fox, Xtreme Tac and Mona Vaydid.

“We felt great. We’re usually a second half team so to come out strong and be that ready to play was amazing. It felt like an accomplishment," Grand Raggidy captain Mona Vaydid said of how Grand Raggidy felt during the opening minutes.

Chicago was not down for the count though and, despite some penalty trouble, began clawing their way back, taking the lead with 8:40 left in the first half. The momentum swing started on a 10-0 jam for Matza Ball Breaker with the Grand Raggidy jammer sitting in the box. Matza Ball Breaker would also be the jammer to put her team into the lead in jam 15 scoring 15 points while Lucy Morals couldn’t get out of the pack for Grand Raggidy.

In the second half, every time Grand Raggidy would start to mount a comeback, they would find themselves in penalty trouble with a revolving door of blockers being seated in the box, sometimes accompanied by their jammer. With only one blocker on the track at times, holding back the Chicago jammers became increasingly difficult, yet Grand Raggidy managed to keep the score differential hovering around 40 points for most of the second half with defensive jamming and aggressive blocking. At the end of the game, the Chicago Outfit took the match 202-153.

"The game at the start of the season against Grand Raggidy was eye opening for us. We lost by too much and used that game as a catalyst to work on our teamwork and our mental game," said Outfit jammer, The Joan Ranger. "When we were losing in the first half this time, we took a timeout and regrouped and refocused and that gave us the ability to win. It was cathartic to face them again this season and know that we’ve overcome our demons."

Final Score

(5) The Chicago Outfit 202
(10) Grand Raggidy Roller Girls 153

The Chicago Outfit will be playing at 4 pm today against the DC Rollergirls. Grand Raggidy will be facing either Demolition City or Boulder County Sunday at 10 am for ninth place.