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The Outfit Mon Apr 29 2013
Syndicate, Shakedown Lose In Outfit Home Openers
It was a tough weekend for the Chicago Outfit.
The Outfit's a-team, the Syndicate, lost to the Nashville Rollergirls All Stars, while the Shakedown, the Outfit's c-team, lost to the Davenport, Iowa-based Quad City Rollers on Saturday night.
Though Nashville drew first blood against the Syndicate, in the second jam of the game. Lola Blow got lead jammer status and quickly scored 19 points, while Syndicate blockers kept Nashville's Britches N'Hose from scoring any. The jam put the Syndicate up 19-2.
Nashville quickly took the lead in the 4th jam when Britches N'Hose took lead jammer and the Syndicate's Joan Ranger went to the penalty box. But that lead didn't last, thanks to strong jamming from the Syndicate's Queefer Sutherland, who repeatedly powered through Nashville's blockers.
While Nashville threatened, they couldn't retake the lead and the Syndicate had an 82-73 lead at the half.
The start of the second half brought some penalty problems for the Syndicate, which allowed Nashville to take the lead 105-82 after only three jams. The Syndicate threatened a few times, but Nashville kept extending the lead, eventually winning 173-141.
The Syndicate's Ivana Schoop said after the bout that the team needs to do a better job controlling opponents' jammers. But she was quick to praise the fact that the team didn't give up, even as Nashville built up their lead.
"Our jammers stayed really aggressive the entire game," she said.
From the beginning, the Quad City Rollers dominated the Shakedown. By the 16:30 mark in the first half, the Rollers were up 105-9. Rollers jammers Krystallica and Lady Gotcha found every hole in the Shakedown's defense, while their blockers held the Shakedown to 9 points over the course of just over 15 minutes.
The Shakedown managed only 21 points in the first half and the Rollers took a 223-21 lead into the locker room.
The second half didn't start off any better for the Shakedown, as the Rollers kept them from scoring for over 7 minutes, while continuing to add points. With 4:20 left to play in the game, the Rollers had a 404-44 lead, eventually winning the bout 423-44.
Shakedown bench coach Tommy Guns said the loss was a learning experience for the team, which has several new skaters this year.
"We need to be stronger skaters," he said. "I think it was a good wake up call for them."
But, he said, the team didn't let the huge point difference get them down.
"They stayed so composed on the bench," he said.
Photos by Bill Mayeroff
