
What can I say? We came, we played, we impressed… Twelve of the best roller derby players in Las Cruces ventured north to Denver, Colorado for the 1st annual Colorado Cup hosted by the #2 team in the world, the Denver Roller Dolls. This was an invite-only tournament and the Crossroads City Derby Sucias were the onlynon-Colorado team invited.
When our General Manager, Andrematon, first announced to the league that we had been invited to the 1st annual Colorado Cup, we were in disbelief. Our little league, only three years old, was on the radar of one of the best and most dominant leagues in the world (yes, world!!!)? What did they see in us? How could we compete with teams that close to Denver? Four games in seven days… Two games on Saturday and one on Sunday during the tournament… And then a week before the tournament we find out that every bout will be streaming live on the Derby News Network. What an opportunity!!!
There was no doubt that we were going to accept this invitation and we were going to introduce the derby world to Crossroads City Derby. The derby world knew a little bit about Castle Rock, Grand Junction, Ark Valley, Fort Collins, and Boulder, the other five teams invited to the Cup. But, they knew nothing of us. They do now…
Our first bout of the tournament was against the Grand Junction Roller Girls from Grand Junction, CO. And what and introduction to the Colorado Cup it was!!! The Sucias jumped out to a 56-1 lead only 7 minutes into the first half. By halftime the score had ballooned to 131-31. The Sucias only gave up 30 points in the second half to win the bout with a final score of 289 – 61 even with Goldy Blocks earning the Sucias’ first and the tournament’s only expulsion for a gross misconduct direction of play major (it really wasn’t that bad of a hit).
Our second bout of the tournament, and of the day, pitted us against the Boulder County Bombers from Boulder, CO. Unbeknownst to us at the time, this was the bout that everyone was waiting to see. How could the little, unknown team from Las Cruces do against an up and coming powerhouse from the Denver area? Well, we held our own against a very strong team, played them closer than anyone else in the tournament (they averaged 480 points against their other two opponents) but in the end came up a bit short in a 292-65 loss.
Our final bout of the weekend matched us up with the #29 ranked team in the Western Regionals in the FoCo Girls Gone Derby from Fort Collins, CO. This bout became the unexpected and closest bout of the tournament. With the score 101-40 with only 11:30 minutes left in the 1st half FoCo began to make a run with the help of penalties that began to pile up for the Sucias. At the half, after a 60-point lead in the first half, the score was Sucias 123, FoCo 117. The second half went back and forth with the Sucias taking their biggest lead of the second half of just 14 points and FoCo of just 20 points. With four minutes left in the bout FoCo was up 12 points with the jammers coming to the line. As both jammers cleared the front of the pack, we were able to gain lead jammer status. The jammer from FoCo was then hit with a 1-minute cutting the track penalty. This allowed the Sucias to scored 15 unanswered points to take a 3-point lead with 2:39 seconds left that they would never relinquish. The Sucias would go on to win the closest bout of the weekend 220-210. General Grant Slam also picked up the MVP Jammer award for Saturday, an award she attributed to the fantastic and unselfish team play showed by the Sucias all weekend.
Watch Crossroads City Derby Sucias bouts or any other bouts from the Colorado Cup now!
We came, we played, we impressed. We showed the derby world what type of derby we play in Southern New Mexico. We left the Colorado Cup with a legion of new fans (we basically sold out of the t-shirts we took with us, with many people asking us how to get more and with one of the local derby shops offering to sell shirts for us), the respect of some of the best teams in roller derby and a confidence that we can play with anyone!!! We were given compliments by the fans, the other skaters and coaches, the NSOs (non-skating officials) and the referees. We represented Las Cruces and New Mexico well and words cannot express my feelings for this team as their head coach.
Ladies, job well done!!!
-Jesus H. Coach