2018 Championships New Orleans Game 3: Texas vs. Gotham

Texas Rollergirls of Austin, Texas, U.S. (Atlanta #1, WFTDA #7)
vs. Gotham Girls Roller Derby of New York, N.Y., U.S. (Seed #3, WFTDA #3)

With this year’s International WFTDA Playoffs and Championships restructure, this was the first time to check out Seed #3 Gotham Girls Roller Derby of New York, N.Y., U.S., in the 2018 postseason. Texas Rollergirls had already wet their chops, winning first place at 2018 WFTDA International Playoffs Atlanta despite having a majority new charter from Championships last year. Texas’ enthusiasm was no match for the grizzled New York veterans’ calm under pressure with Gotham taking the win, 143-79.

While Texas got out to an early lead with the crowd cheering raucously for Freight Train, possibly the most loved skater in the WFTDA, the Texecutioners were lacking some of the blocking expertise contained on the New York side.

Gotham’s Roxy Dallas, Fast & Luce, and Caf Fiend were ferocious in their jammer lockdowns and looked calm and collected while communicating with the rest of their team. Gotham took over the lead 10 minutes in and never looked back, nearly doubling Texas’ game score.

https://twitter.com/allymckill/status/1061001607092060163

The game may not have been close but it was exciting as heck. The blockers for both teams pulled out all sorts of defensive shapes and blocks, and the new blood in the jammer rotations of both teams brought joy and energy to the track.

Kate Sera Sera for Gotham and Grace Lightning for Texas will likely be derby household names in the near future. Both performed admirably at their first WFTDA Championships and pulled out great performances in pinch situations.

Gotham goes on to the semifinal at 6 p.m. Saturday and will face either Rose City Rollers of Portland, Ore., U.S. (Seed #2, WFTDA #2) or Montréal Roller Derby of Montréal, Québec, Canada (Atlanta #3, WFTDA #8).

Texas moves to the consolation side and will skate at 2 p.m. Saturday against either Denver Roller Derby of Denver, Colo., U.S. (Seed #4, WFTDA #5) or Arch Rival Roller Derby of St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. (A Coruña #1, WFTDA #4).

Back to 2018 International WFTDA Championships New Orleans Tournament Central