KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State Varsity Esports program just capped off their first matches over the first few weeks in their 2024 fall season. After picking up a win of their first contest of the season, the Rocket League Varsity team now sits at 2-2, while the Rocket League Academy Team also won their first matchup of the fall. The brand new Valorant team picked up their first win in program history with ease to improve to 1-0, while Super Smash Bros. fell to 0-1 to start the season.

Records

• Rocket League Varsity: 2-2
• Rocket League Academy: 1-0
• Valorant: 1-0
• Super Smash: 0-1
• Overwatch 2: DNP – Bye Week

Rocket League Varsity
 
The Keene State varsity team got a win in their first contest of the season, as they defeated the University of Toledo Rockets, 3-1 in the best of five series. KSC took the first game, 5-0, but Toledo responded right back in the second game and came back to tie the game, 3-3 with 17 seconds remaining, then won the game on a goal with three seconds remaining to tie the match score up at one apiece. The Owls took game three after the game was tied for a majority of the five minutes, then with 19 seconds remaining, Alex Nimiroski (Normal1Land1) assisted Andrew Sorcinelli (Aurorxs) for the game-winner, to give KSC the 2-1 game win, and ahead, 2-1, in the match. KSC closed the door in the final game with another 2-1 win, as captain Eric Carlo (EricKamii) buried the 2-1 game-winner with 32 seconds remaining, to give KSC the 3-1 series win. Nimiroski led the Owls in goals and saves, with five goals and 10 saves, to go with his three assists. Carlo finished with four goals, a pair of assists, and one save, while Sorcinelli recorded three goals, a team-high of six assists, and a pair of saves.
 
In the varsity's second contest of the year, KSC matched up against the Michigan Tech University Huskies (1-0). KSC dropped the first game 4-1 as the Huskies jumped out to an early lead in the contest and KSC was never able to come back, at MTU took a 1-0 series advantage. In game two, MTU did not take their foot off the gas, as they cruised to a 2-0 series advantage after a 5-0 game two win over the Owls. Game three was a lot closer as the contest went back-and-forth as KSC held a 4-3 lead with 1:19 remaining on the clock. After MTU tied it up at four apiece five seconds later, the Huskies went on to score three more goals in the final minute, to make it four unanswered goals against the Owls. With their four consecutive goals, MTU won the third game, 7-4 and won the series, 3-0, to hand KSC their first loss of the season. Nimiroski tied for the team-high in goals, with two, to go with his assist and three saves. Carlo also tied for the team-high of two goals, to with his team-highs in both assists, with two, and saves, with five on the day. Sorcinelli finished the second match for KSC with each a goal and assist, along with three saves in the contest.
 
KSC looked to bounce back from their previous matchup against the Huskies, with a win in their third matchup of the season, coming against Rochester Institute of Technology (Orange) (3-0). The Tigers got off to a hot start, scoring five seconds into the game and never looking back as they took game one, 6-1, over the Owls. After game two was tied at two apiece in the final two minutes, RIT took a 3-2 lead and KSC wasn't able to come back, as RIT took game two, to go up 2-0 in the series. The Owls answered back by taking game three, thanks to an early goal from Carlo, just 11 seconds in. The Owls cruised to a 5-1 victory in game three, cutting the Tigers head to one game, 2-1. RIT scored three goals in a row in game four and held off the Owls' late comeback attempt, that resulting in a goal, as the Tigers held on to a 3-1 win in game four, which resulted in a 3-1 series win over the Owls. Nimiroski finished the series against RIT with three goals, a pair of assists, and four saves. Carlo had a team-high of four goals, with an assist and four saves, while Sorcinelli finished with a pair of goals and team-highs with both three assists and eight saves.
 
The Owls' week five opponent, Fisher College, forfeited their season, which results in an automatic win for KSC, bringing their season record to 2-2.
 
Rocket League Academy
 
Rocket League is the first program for the Owls to have two teams competing, but in separate leagues for this season, as the Varsity Plus (Academy) team kicked off their season against DePaul University's JV Red team. DePaul hoped to take game one, after being up 2-1 with little time remaining, but Jack Manning (Jackattack1600) scored for KSC with 26 seconds remaining on a pass from Adam Albik (Stylobiko.) to send the game into OT. Ryan Morrison (ExtrmDreamz.) closed the door for the Owls in game one, as he scored the game-winning goal, 2:18 into the OT period to give KSC a 1-0 series advantage. In game two, the contest was tied for the first half, but KSC pulled away by scoring four goals in a row to take game two, 4-1, and jump to a 2-0 series lead over the Blue Demons. The Owls did not take their foot off the gas in game three, as they scored six goals, making it 10 consecutive KSC goals across games two and three, en route to their 6-0 shutout in game three. With the game three win, KSC swept the series, 3-0, to pick up their first win of the season. Manning led the Owls' attack with seven goals across the three games, to go with his two assists and team-high of six saves. Albik recorded a pair of each goals and saves, to go with his team-high of three assists, while Morrison recorded four goals, two assists, and five saves in the victory.
 
Super Smash Bros.
 
Keene State's Smash team kicked off their 2024 fall season against Franklin College on September 23, but the Owls fell to the Grizzlies, 2-0, in the contest. 
 
Valorant
 
In Keene State's first ever match for Valorant, the Owls picked up a 2-0 win over the Clarke University (B) Pride team. In the first game, the Owls cruised to a 12-3 win over the Pride. Jeremy Giguere (yerrei) led the Owls in the first game, with a Kill/Death/Assist line of 25/6/7, while Keegan Evans (Mr Chimp) was closely behind with a line of 23/7/6. Nathan Ruangturakid (ShotgunUser) went 11/11/4 for the Owls, while Ysa Arezzo (YsaHolmes) (8/6/4) and Hailey Michaud (HMeesh) with four plants and a pair of defuses in the match, rounded out the Owls round one win. The second round was a closer match then the first round, but KSC pulled through for the win again, with a round score of 13-9 to secure the first match win in program history. Evans led KSC in the second round with a 28/16/3 line, while Giguere was closely behind with a 16/12/9 line and a pair of plants and one defuse. Ruangturakid and Michaud respectively had lines of 14/14/14 with three plants, and 13/13/10 with a pair of plants and defuse. Arezzo rounded out KSC with a 12/14/3 line in the program's first ever match and win.
 
Up Next

• Rocket League Varsity: Friday, October 4, at 7:00 PM vs. Spring Hill College
• Rocket League Academy: Monday, September 30, at 8:30 PM vs. RIT Academy Red
• Valorant: Friday, October 4, at 9:00 PM vs. Stone Child College
• Super Smash: Monday, September 30, at 7:00 PM vs. Camden County College
• Overwatch 2:Wednesday, October 2, at 7:00 PM vs. DePaul University JV White – Season Opener Watch Party in LLC 126 for the first Overwatch 2 match!

Follow KSC_Esports on social media for more updates!