(BALLWIN, MO) In preparation for this weekend’s flat-track tussle with a squad that bested them by three points in its prior meeting, the Arch Rival Roller Girls All-Stars last Monday constructed its own version of a “to-do list” at practice. Introduced and itemized were roughly ten things to work on, improve upon and be aware of.
As Saturday night’s bout progressed at Midwest Sport Hockey, St. Louis was figuratively marking each box with a giant X.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
Arch Rival, ranked #21 internationally by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), thumped #31 No Coast, 248-138, to pick up its third straight win and improve to 3-1.
For Arch Rival, notching the 110-point victory over the Lincoln, Nebraska-based team that handed them a road setback last season meant that the checklist implemented earlier in the week was followed.
“We did a lot of those things tonight, which was very surprising,” said Arch Rival co-captain Brickyard after the win. “I think we’re getting a lot better as working together as a team, so I think we were all super excited with how things ended up tonight.”
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
The visiting Mad Maxines were certainly game, ready to break Arch Rival’s 14-0 record at home. But after No Coast sported an early lead, the hostesses rebounded by wielding its hypothetical pen.
Trailing 6-5 after the first four jams, St. Louis staged a 53-0 rally over the next eight minutes. Launched by Brickyard’s 30-point jam at 24:10, Arch Rival flipped the scoreboard in its favor, 35-6. Four jams later, the co-captain ended the uncontested stretch with an eight pointer that pushed the lead to 58-6 with 19:25 left in the first period.
Midway through the period, St. Louis widened the lead to 66-12 and then proceeded with another rally. Mighty Mighty Boston’s 12-pointer in jam 14 began a 25-0 run for the locals. Punctuated by Brickyard’s 10 scored with 11:50 left in the frame, Arch Rival widened its lead to 91-12.
To its credit, the Mad Maxines kept pace as the period wound down. A 16-4 No Coast run over the next three jams whittled the Arch margin to 95-28 with 8:30 left in the period.
Arch Rival held a 111-44 lead at intermission, but one could sense that No Coast was trending up due to its renewed offensive spark. That surge carried over to the opening jams of the second as the visitors produced a 30-12 run. Paced by Anna Cassube’s 18-pointer, No Coast narrowed the gap to 123-74 six minutes deep into the second.
Arch Rival’s blocking schema, paced by co-captain Mayor Francis Slayer, Eli Wallop, Party Foul, Emily Rinehart, Kayla Seiber, Girl Fawkes, Downtown Dallis and a host of others, went into lockdown mode both offensively and defensively and helped the locals score 37 uncontested on the next two rotations.
Boston and Brickyard posted 19 and 18 points, respectively, to stretch St. Louis’ lead to 160-74 with 22:00 left to play. By no means were these spurts based on individual heroics. These were team-building jams.
“When I first started playing, I kept thinking that I had to just keep pushing myself as hard as I could,” said Brickyard. “Now that we have more set plays, I’ve gotten a lot better at seeing what our defense is doing and then when they go to offense, just using them to go forward. Not doing it on my own but doing it with everybody.”
Her sistren helped her tack on a 19-point power jam with 17:30 left that pushed the lead to 179-83.
Arch Rival outscored No Coast, 137-94, to pick up the 248-138 victory and boost its record at Midwest Sport Hockey to 15-0. More importantly, the win over the WFTDA team ranked ten positions behind should help maintain its current placement in the organization’s hierarchy.
“We are trying to keep our eyes forward in terms of every single win as a success for us,” said Brickyard, who finished with 120 points. “Last year, we looked way too far into the future, so now we look at every single game, every single win.”
Boston added 67 points for St. Louis while Annie Swanson collected 56. Arch Rival travels cross-state to play at #28 Kansas City next Sunday afternoon. (A preview of the Show-Me State match-up will be featured at Arch City Sports this Friday.)
Christy Johnson scored 76 points for No Coast (1-3) while Cassube added 54.
UNOFFICIAL SCORING
ARCH RIVAL ROLLER GIRLS ALL-STARS (248): Brickyard 120, Mighty Mighty Boston 67, Annie Swanson 56, Chokehold Channel 5.
NO COAST MAD MAXINES (138): Christy Johnson 76, Anna Cassube 54, Beth Kempf 8
In the b-team bout, ARRG’s Saint Lunachix collected its second win in a row with a 233-85 victory over the No Coast Road Warriors.
The Lunachix utilized a pair of 20-plus first-period rallies to build a 107-51 lead at intermission.
The squad outscored No Coast 130-34 in the second period en route to victory.
Jammer Sleazy E paced St. Louis (2-2) with 68 points while EnYa Nightmare added 58.
The Lunachix travel to Kansas City next Sunday to face KCRW’s Plan B.
