Salt Lake City, UT

by Vile Love It

After winning their first game earlier in the day, the Arch Rival Roller Girls, of St. Louis, Missouri, (Seed 7) advanced to play against the Angel City Roller Girls, of Los Angeles, California, (Seed 2) in Game 4 of the first day of tournament play at the international 2014 WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs Salt Lake City.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

Throughout the 60 minutes of play, Angel City’s jammers Chica Go Lightning, Mickispeedia, Cris Dobbins and Satan’s Little Helper, were able to jump, spin, juke and thread their way through Arch Rival’s defense. For the most part, Angel City’s blockers locked down the Arch Rival jammers except Brickyard and Mighty Mighty Boston who scored most of Arch Rival’s points.

Throughout the game, Angel City’s nimble jammers won lead jam status 65 percent of the time and, even when Arch Rival was able to grab lead jam, their defense couldn’t hold Angel City’s jammers for long, forcing quick call offs.

At the end of the first half Angel City held a steady lock on the scoreboard: 142-34.

Angel City kept up relentless pressure on Arch Rival’s jammers in jam after jam, but the Arch Rival jammers maintained cool heads and steady feet, which resulted in only 3 Arch Rival jammer penalties for the entire game.

The overall penalties were evenly divided between the teams. Angel City had 29 box trips and Arch Rival had 27.

In the end, Angel City’s blockers anchored the game. They significantly limited Arch Rival’s jammers while effectively playing offense when necessary, something Arch Rival could not always afford to do. Although Angel City’s jammers didn’t get many power jams, they didn’t need them. Their blockers were able to consistently recycle Arch Rival’s jammers and hold them in the pack.

Arch Rival will continue on in the consolation bracket on the quest for 5th place while Angel City advances to play the winner of Rocky Mountain Rollergirls vs. Watsatch Roller Derby at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Final Score

(2) Angel City Derby Girls 240

(7) Arch Rival Roller Girls 80