2018 Championships New Orleans Game 4: Arch Rival vs. Denver

Arch Rival Roller Derby (A Coruña #1, WFTDA #4) vs. Denver Roller Derby (Seed #4, WFTDA #5)

The match up between Denver Roller Derby of Denver, Colo., U.S. (Seed #4, WFTDA #5) and Arch Rival Roller Derby of St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. (A Coruña #1, WFTDA #4) in Game 4 of the 2018 International WFTDA Championships New Orleans was a tale of two periods that were so different at times they felt like separate games. At the end of the first period it was a 2-point game and Arch Rival had a solid chance to grab the upset win. But Denver intensified everything about their game play after their locker room break and skated away with a commanding win.

In the first period, Denver struggled to contain Arch Rival’s lightning fast Bricktator. She had a 19-point jam early in the game and seemed untouchable. Denver’s jammers struggled with penalties. Towards the end of the first, a Denver jammer was given a double penalty which left Bricktator solo on the track for a minute. But Denver had begun to visualize what the second period could look like and they held Bricktator to 4 points.

Jammer penalties were a problem for Denver in the first. Scald Eagle collected three penalties, two of them back to back. In the second period Scald earned 30 points in her first jam out and skated clean the entire period.

Arch Rival’s defense was hard to breach in the first period but Denver’s swarming offense often scattered it the second and that gave Wilhelm and Klein the openings they needed to slice through and score.

Although Arch Rival had a spurt of lead jams at the end of the game, it wasn’t enough to change the momentum.

Denver earned the right to move on in the tournament and will play the winner of the game between Victorian Roller Derby League of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Seed #1, WFTDA #1) and Angel City Derby of Los Angeles, California, U.S. (A Coruña #3, WFTDA #9) on Saturday at 8 p.m. Arch Rival will play the Texas Rollergirls of Austin, Texas, U.S. (Atlanta #1, WFTDA #7) Saturday at 2 p.m.

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