2016 Playoffs Madison Game 8: Team United (#5) VS No Coast (#7)

There is no team that Team United Roller Derby of Urbandale, IA, USA (seed #5) is more familiar with than No Coast Derby Girls of Lincoln, NE, USA (seed #7). They’ve played four times in Team United’s two years as a WFTDA member league and have beaten the Nebraskans each time, most recently in June of this year. Team United succeeded once more moving into the consolation semifinals with a 246-147 victory.

“We’re very familiar with Team United. We play them a couple of times a year and it’s a challenging game, but one we look forward to,” said No Coast skater Slam Anderson.

The first half started with two monstrous jams by CROWE and The Whip for Team United, leading to a 29-0 score before No Coast would get on the board with Slam scoring three points for the Nebraskans. With just under 10 minutes played, Team United found themselves with a sole blocker on the track — Karried Away tried to get a body on Slam, but the No Coast jammer skated laps around the pack, putting up 15 points and bringing the lead to 53-18.

Further penalty issues hit Team United halfway through the period and No Coast went on a scoring streak. Anna Maniac, Slam and Fancy put together a three-jam, 31-point run over five minutes. But Team United’s CROWE brought it to an end with a 24-point single jam, making the score 88-49 with just under ten minutes left in the half.

The remainder of the half saw excellent blocking from Lolli Pop Ya and Stan combined with excellent jamming from Crowe, EnerGEEzer Bunny, and Case Closed. The score disparity grew to 148-65 by the end of 30 minutes.

The second half started with a frantic jam, as CROWE went to the box twice as the Team United jammer and Slam joined her as the No Coast jammer once. The second jam saw Anna Maniac standing unopposed on the jammer line with CROWE still in the box. At the end of the five minutes, Team United had put up 12 points but No Coast had managed a solid nine of their own.

The next ten minutes looked similar to the first half with dominant pack play by Team United, but then No Coast shifted — with her defense on the back line, Slam scored 19 of her game-high 96 points against pivot-turned-jammer Emily Rairdin. This started a five-jam shutout where No Coast got lead jammer and 37 points while Team United looked stymied by the No Coast jammer’s edge work and Ripa’s and Brooke N Hearts’ offensive blocks. With ten minutes left, No Coast had closed the gap back to 219-116. No Coast shortened their jammer bench sending out Slam every other jam, but it wasn’t enough to maintain the comeback. The game would end 246-147 for Team United despite a strong second half by No Coast.

“I’m proud of how we played. We’ve had some roster shake-ups this year with injuries and we did really well,” said Slam.

Team United moves on to face the Windy City Rollers of Chicago, IL, USA (seed #8) at 6 p.m. Saturday. No Coast will play for Ninth Place at 10 a.m. Sunday against Ohio Roller Derby of Columbus, OH, USA (seed #9).

FINAL SCORE

Team United Women’s Roller Derby (#5) 246
No Coast Derby Girls (#7) 147