Vancouver, BC

By Vile Love It

The first upset of the WFTDA D1 Playoffs Vancouver came early Saturday when the Queen City Roller Girls Lake Effect Furies of Buffalo, NY, USA (seed #9) overtook the Naptown Roller Girls Tornado Sirens of Indianapolis, IN, USA (seed #6) after an exhausting and hard-hitting game. This win earns Queen City a second game today against the Sacred City Derby Girls Sacrificers of Sacramento, CA, USA and a chance for fifth place.

Photo by Keith Bielat

The first two-thirds of period 1 was reminiscent of Queen City’s Friday game against Stockholm when they struggled to find their footing and adjust to their opponents. Naptown’s blockers shut down the Buffalonian jammers, and it took five jams before Queen City was able to put points on the scoreboard. When Queen City would earn lead jammer status, Naptown’s jammers would slip through and the jam would have to be called quickly.

But when Naptown’s Maiden America went to the penalty box, Dana Scullcrusher collected 10 points in a power jam, which shifted the momentum in Queen City’s favor. As the first period progressed, Queen City’s blockers found their rhythm and were able to hold back Naptown’s jammers. At halftime, Queen City had made enough of a comeback to tie the score 65-65.

Queen City continued their momentum into the second period with a power jam right out of the gate in which LiBRAWLian earned 20 points and put Queen City in the lead. They never gave it back. Despite the strength and talent of Naptown’s Eve Anne Hellical, Cherry-oto-Fire, and Maiden America, Queen City’s blockers came together and were able to hold them long enough to extend their lead.

Photo by Keith Bielat

Penalties were evenly spread between the teams. Naptown had seven jammer penalties and Queen City had nine. Three of those nine came in the last few jams of the game as Naptown looked to be making a comeback. Going into the last jam, Queen City held a 154-115 lead—even after receiving two jammer penalties in the previous two jams in which Naptown was able to go on an 18-0 run. Naptown put out the hard-working Maiden America, who was the highest scoring jammer of the game with a total of 65 points. Maiden America picked up lead and was awarded a power jam when her blockers drew a cut on Queen City’s LiBRAWLian. Though she worked her way through five scoring passes to pick up 23 points, it wasn’t enough to close the gap and Queen City took the win, 160-138.

Naptown will play for 9th place in the 10 a.m. PT game on Sunday, while Queen City will challenge Sacred City Derby Girls at 4 p.m. PT today for a spot in the 5th place game.

Final Score

Naptown Roller Girls 138
Queen City Roller Girls 160