KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State Varsity Esports program went a combined 3-2 this past week, and as such, all KSC Esports teams now sport at least one win on the season, including a few near or at the top of their respective national divisions.
Records
- Rocket League Varsity: 4-2
- Rocket League Academy: 3-0
- Valorant: 2-1
- Super Smash: 1-2
- Overwatch: 2-0
HOW IT HAPPENED
Rocket League Varsity
Coming off of a dominant 3-0 victory over the Stone Hill College Badgers just 3 days prior, KSC Varsity Rocket League kept up the momentum for their matchup on Monday night versus the Seawolves of Stony Brook University. In match one, the Owls took a quick lead as
Andrew Sorcinelli (Aurorxs) opened the game up with a goal at 4:10 off a well-placed aerial pass from
Eric Carlo (EricKamii). The Seawolves responded shortly thereafter with a goal from Salmon to tie at one all. The Owls took the lead back with a goal from EricKamii before Stony Brook tied the match at two off of a goal from Versallie. The Owls took a 3-2 lead off a goal from Aurorxs at 1:57, and the Owls opened the proverbial floodgates at that point, never losing the lead for the rest of match one. Despite a goal from Versallie to bring the Seawolves within one goal at 1:03, the Owls spent the final minute of the match piling it on.
Alex Nimiroski (normal) added goals 2 and 3 in rapid succession, at 0:46 and 0:37; the latter coming from a pass by EricKamii. Aurorxs closed out match 1 with 2 seconds remaining, leading to a 7-3 Owls lead in match 1. The Owls kept their foot on the gas in match 2 against Stony Brook, cruising to a 7-1 victory, with Aurorxs leading the Owls with 4 goals, followed by 3 from Normal. EricKamii contributed the most assists in match 2, with three.
KSC Varsity Rocket League closed out the series with a 4-1 victory in match 3, with an overwhelming offensive performance; 14 total shots on goal compared to 2 from the Seawolves. The Owls took the series 3-0 in the best of five, and improved to 4-2 on the season, currently second in the national Playfly College Esports Varisty Premier East Conference, behind a three-way tie for first including Seton Hall (5-0), RIT Orange (5-1) and Michigan Tech (5-1).
Series Stats
Eric "EricKamii" Carlo: 2 Goals/8 Assists/0 Saves
Alex "normal" Nimiroski: 8 Goals/5 Assists/4 Saves
Andrew "Aurorxs" Sorcinelli: 8 Goals/4 Assists/2 Saves
Rocket League Academy
Keene State Rocket League's new Academy-level team entered the week undefeated, with a 2-0 record and looked to improve to 3-0 against Neumont College of Computer Science, and succeeded in doing so. KSC Academy Rocket League took match one with a 3-0 victory, due to a pair of goals from
Jack Manning (Jackattack16000) and a third from
Adam Albik (Stylobiko). Match 2 was more of a defensive battle, as the Owls emerged victorious with a 2-1 victory. Jackattack16000 added a goal, and
Ryan Morrison (ExtrmDreamz) contributed one as well. Seemingly not content with a close second match, the Owls broke through in what would be the third and final match of the series. Stylobiko submitted the only hat trick of the entire series, with 3 goals in the match. Jackattack16000 and ExtrmDreamz both contributed 2 goals a piece as the Owls defeated Neumont 7-3 in the series clincher, in a 3-0 victory for the best of 5 series. Keene State Academy Rocket League improves to 3-0 on the season, for them to stand alone atop Playfly College Esports Varsity Plus's Mixed 3 Conference.
Series Stats
Adam "Stylobiko." Albik: 4 Goals/1 Assist/5 Saves
Jack "Jackattack16000" Manning: 5 Goals/2 Assists/4 Saves
Ryan "ExtrmDreamz." Morrison: 3 Goals/2 Assists/1 Save
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Following an 0-2 start to the season, Keene State Super Smash Bros. Ultimate earned their first win of the season due to a season forfeiture from their would-be opponent this week, Rochester Institute of Technology Gray. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate therefore improved to 1-2 on the season.
Valorant
Starting off the season 2-0, KSC VALORANT faced off against Colorado School of Mines Challenger on Monday night in a best of 3 series.
Match 1: On the map Sunset, the Owls found themselves on attack first, and started off strong with a 5-3 lead in the first to 13 match, but lost momentum in the second half, dropping the final 7 rounds, leading to a 13-6 victory on Sunset for CSM Challenger. Despite the match loss, the Owls had some strong performances. Team Captain
Keegan Evans (Chimp) included five "first kills" in the match, with a 14 kill/15 death/6 assist line.
Hailey Michaud (HMeesh) contributed 7 kills and 4 assists, along with 8 total spike plants, leading all players. Sophomore
Jeremy Giguere (yerrei) led the Owls in kills, with a 15/15/6 stat line, along with a 17% headshot percentage, leading the Owls in that category and tied for highest in the entire match.
Match 2: The series then moved to Haven, where the Owls and Orediggers both traded four straight round wins, tying the match at 4-4 leading into round 9. From there, CSM Challenger claimed 7 out of the next 8 rounds, eventually leading to a map victory for the Orediggers 13-7, taking the best of 3 contest 2-0. On the statistical side of things, Chimp led all players with 23 kills, including 7 multikills.
Ysaiah Arezzo (YsaHolmes) contributed the second most kills for Keene State, and was the only other Owl to have a positive kill to death ratio in match 2, with a 13/12/6 line.
KSC VALORANT's record is now 2-1, and within Playfly College Esports' Mixed 5 Conference, they sit at second place on the season behind a three-way tie for first between 3-0 teams Colorado School of Mines Challenger, California State University Dominguez Hills and RIT Academy Yellow.
Overwatch 2
Following a decisive 3-0 best of 5 victory in their season opener against DePaul JV White last week, Keene State College Overwatch looked to build upon their performance in Wednesday's tilt versus Eastern Michigan University B.
Match 1 had the Owls take on the Eagles on the Control game mode, on the map Illios. Out of spawn, the Owls employed a take on their signature dive composition, with
Shea Castriotta (Hotpocket) on Dva then Doomfist,
Eli Volpini (Goofymcgoob) on Tracer,
Connor Malone (HoodNut) on Venture, Jack Holderby (Crimgo) on Lucio and Team Captain
Korben Robinson (ShadowStorm) on Kiriko. KSC took map one 2-0, off of fast team play, and the auto-generated Play of the Game went to Crimgo, with a double environmental elimination followed by a third on Eastern Michigan's VinylDino; a rare support spotlight for Play of the Game.
Match 2 was Eastern Michigan's choice of Hybrid map, and the eagles selected the ever-popular King's Row. Demonstrating the depth of the KSC Overwatch team, Sophomore tank player Matt Bonner (Midas) replaced Hotpocket, and Junior DPS player
Catch Foss (TuT) took over duties for Goofymcgoob. Tasked with defending the first capture point, the Owls were able to repeatedly stifle the Eagles for four straight minutes, completely disallowing EMU from capturing the payload to begin progressing through the rest of the map. Key moments included several biotic grenades from ShadowStorm on the hero Ana that temporarily nullified healing capabilities for EMU, allowing the HoodNut, TuT and Midas in the front to make eliminations. After four minutes, the Owls successfully accomplished a "full hold", not allowing the Eagles to capture any progress at all, allowing the match to only end in a draw, or victory for the Owls.
On attack, KSC Overwatch only needed to capture one third of the capture point to seal the match victory, and EMU, like KSC, was tasked with attempting to hold the Owls at bay for four minutes. The Owls broke through immediately and in the first teamfight on offense, the Owls were able to capture the point thanks to some patient frontline play from Midas and Hoodnut that split up EMU, allowing TuT to get three headshot sniping eliminations on the character Widowmaker, resulting in a 1-0 match victory for the Owls and Play of the Game for TuT.
Match 3 was played on the Flashpoint game mode, a strong suit for Owls Overwatch dating back to the Spring 2024 season, and Eastern Michigan selected Suravasa as the map. Showing the versatility of the roster to adapt to mode-specific needs, the Owls moved typical DPS player HoodNut over to support, to allow GoofyMcgoob to take the damage slot alongside TuT for this map. This worked well as the owls were able to rain down damage from many angles, with Midas playing the ever-present tank character Orisa up front. In a "first to three" scenario for the Flashpoint game mode, KSC made it quick and dispatched the Eagles 3-0, leading to an overall series victory of 3-0 for the Owls.
Improving to 2-0 on the season, KSC's Overwatch team sits at second place in Playfly College Esports' East 2 Conference, and is one of only two teams in the division without a loss on their record, behind only the 3-0 UNC Pembroke team.
Up Next
- Valorant: Tuesday, October 15 at 8:00 PM vs. RIT Academy Yellow
- Overwatch 2: Wednesday, October 16, at 7:00 PM vs. Ferris State (Gold)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Monday, October 21 at 7:00 PM vs. UNC Pembroke
- Rocket League Academy: Monday, October 21, at 8:30 PM vs. Wayland Baptist University
- Rocket League Varsity: Friday, October 25th at 7:00 PM vs. Rowan University Gold
Follow KSC_Esports on social media for more updates!
