(SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH) The Arch Rival Roller Girls netted a 77-point consolation bracket victory over a higher seed Saturday night at the International 2014 Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) Playoffs in Salt Lake City.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
Thanks to a 29-0 second half rally, St. Louis, the tourney’s seventh seed, topped sixth-seeded Wasatch, 172-95. The victory nets Arch Rival placement in the playoff’s fifth place bout on Sunday against fifth-seeded Montreal. Game time is set for 2 PM MDT (3 PM St. Louis time).
“We know that playoffs are a huge mental game for us, so we have focused all season on being positive,” said Arch Rival co-captain Brickyard after the game. “We call it ‘Being Posi!’ We all really want this.”
After a game-opening 10-point jam from Arch Rival jammer Mighty Mighty Boston, the locals pushed its lead to 14-0 after the third jam. Wasatch, the tourney’s hostesses, scored nine straight and whittled the lead to 14-9 six minutes deep.
St. Louis stretched the differential back to double-digits following Annie Swanson’s 11-6 power jam with 19:00 left in the period that extended the lead to 28-17.
Photo Credit: Bob Dunnell
The pesky Midnight Terror kept clawing back and narrowed Arch Rival’s lead to four points, 39-35, with 10:50 left in the half. Brickyard countered with a 9-4 on the next rotation that widened the gap to 48-39.
With a late scoring stretch, Wasatch only trailed by five points, 66-61, at intermission.
Arch Rival scored the first eight points of the second period, via back-to-back four-pointers from Boston and Brickyard, and extended its lead to 74-65. Swanson’s 9-4 strike on the next rotation pushed the score to 83-65 with 25:00 left.
After Wasatch posted four in jam four, St. Louis posted nine straight lead jams, resulting in a 29-0 run that covered ten minutes. Highlighted by Swanson’s late-rally eight-pointer, Arch Rival stretched its lead to 112-68 with 14:00 left.
Meanwhile, Arch Rival’s play cleaned up considerably and its defense shined. Paced by blockers Mayor Francis Slayer, Party Foul, Eli Wallop, Kayla Seiber, Downtown Dallis, Shimmy Hoffa, Shear-Ra Powers , Cloak N’ Drag Her, Claire Coonrod and The Ginger Assassin, St. Louis held Wasatch’s second period scoring to 11 points with 10:00 left in the contest.
Boston’s 20 point jam with 5:00 left pushed the lead to 161-91 and punctuated the strong second half showing.
Arch Rival outscored the sixth seed, 106-34, in the second period to pick up the 172-95 win and entry into the 10-team tourney’s fifth place bout.
Swanson paced St. Louis scoring with 66 points, followed by Boston’s 55.
Arch Rival’s Sunday opponent, Montreal, topped No Coast, 237-95, Saturday afternoon.
“We know that we are a smaller team,” said Brickyard, who finished with 51 points. “We have players that are really good against bigger players. We’re going to put out the best roster that we have.”
St. Louis has already guaranteed higher finish numerically than its entry. The seventh seed on Sunday will look now for its highest WFTDA post-season finish historically with a fifth-place finish.
“We’re going to try to just have fun,” said Brickyard. “If we lose, we still hit our goal.”
Live online coverage of the Salt Lake City playoff is available via wftda.tv with its complimentary audio feed.
