2018 Playoffs A Coruña Game 3: Santa Cruz vs. Paris
Santa Cruz Derby Girls (Seed #6, WFTDA #16) vs Paris Rollergirls (Seed #11, WFTDA #30)
218
100
The third game of the 2018 International WFTDA Playoffs A Coruña paired the Santa Cruz Derby Girls Boardwalk Bombshells of Santa Cruz, California, U.S. (Seed #6, WFTDA #16) against the Paris Rollergirls All Stars of Paris, France (Seed #11, WFTDA #30). Santa Cruz dominated the game, proving their higher seed and experience in top-level WFTDA tournament play over the Paris Rollergirls, ultimately earning a 218-100 victory.
Here’s our watch party in Santa Cruz! Complete with coffee and donuts for all, duh. Let’s go, @SCderbygirls !!! #talk2wftda pic.twitter.com/ABmTBmUImm
— Lawrence of a Labia (@LawrenceOLabia) August 31, 2018
The game started fairly close and low-scoring, though Santa Cruz was consistently earning lead jammer status. The Boardwalk Bombshells would continue to add handfuls of points to the board while holding Paris scoreless for several jams. This was Paris’s first showing at Playoffs, but not their first experience in the WFTDA postseason, having placed second in the 2017 International D2 Championships Pittsburgh. They proved to be formidable opponents, taking advantage of their opportunities as lead and tightening the differential. At 12 minutes in, Santa Cruz was barely holding onto a narrow 29-27 advantage after Paris jammer Kurdy Malloy fought her way past the Santa Cruz defense for lead and 14 points.
Loving the strength of the tripods in the Paris Santa Cruz game. Jammers are working hard. #talk2wftda
— Katherine Zeta Bones (@DorwaldtKate) August 31, 2018
But Santa Cruz pushed forward and locked down their defense with tight, seemingly impenetrable formations while their speedy jammers such as TARAism and E-Wrecks grabbed lead quickly and lapped the pack, often running untouched up the outside lanes. Paris also found themselves consistently in jammer penalty trouble, making it hard for them to catch up from the score that was starting to pull away from them. At the half, Santa Cruz was ahead 111-42.
In the second half of the game, Paris had better luck keeping their jammers out of the penalty box, but Santa Cruz displayed even greater control, allowing Paris to earn lead jammer status only three times in the period.
With this lock down on their defense and the success of their agile jammers, Santa Cruz repeatedly held Paris scoreless while adding double digits back-to-back and stretching out the differential to a certain victory. But Paris remained determined until the last whistle, picking up their third lead of the half in the final jam of the game. With Star donning the hat to match her name on a powerstart, Paris added three points to their total and ended the game at 100 points to Santa Cruz’s solid 218.
Well. That was an intense game! Good job, Santa Cruz! Paris, je t’aime encore! #talk2wftda #WFTDAPlayoffs #SunSandDerby
— Elizabeth (@spitesprite) August 31, 2018
Santa Cruz will go on to play Crime City Rollers (Seed #3) in Game 7 at 10 a.m. CEST/5 a.m. ART/4 a.m. EDT tomorrow. Paris will next meet Stockholm Roller Derby (Seed #9) in Game 9 at 2 p.m. CEST/9 a.m. ART/8 a.m. EDT later that day.
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