KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College Varsity Esports program went a combined 3-3 in six total Playfly College Esports Varsity matchups this week. All teams remain in the playoff race in their respective national divisions, with a few rosters at or near the top and emerging as season front runners.

Records entering week of October 28th, 2024:

• Rocket League Varsity: 5-2

• Rocket League Academy: 4-0

• Valorant: 2-3

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1-3

• Overwatch 2: 4-0

HOW IT HAPPENED

Rocket League Varsity

After an extended break, KSC's Varsity Rocket League team took on Rowan University Gold in a must-win matchup to remain in the playoff picture for Playfly College Esports Varsity Premier. The Owls were able to secure a 3-0 series victory over the Profs of Rowan University, including a 3-0 shutout in Game 1.

Game 2 saw Rowan keep the Owls of KSC on their toes, by responding to an initial 3-0 KSC lead with two goals of their own, to bring the match to 3-2 with 55 seconds remaining. KSC was able to keep Rowan at bay, however, for the final seconds of the match and took game 2 3-2.

The final game saw both squads neck and neck throughout, with the match tied 1 all, before Alex Nimiroski (normal.) scored with 42 seconds left to put KSC up 2-1. In a win or go home situation, Rowan's "dankred" tied the game at two with just 17 seconds left. With both teams unable to take the lead with the remaining regulation time, the series went to sudden-death overtime: A goal for the KSC Owls would secure a 3-0 series victory; a goal for the Owls of Rowan University would be necessary to keep the series alive. After just over a minute of tense jockeying, Andrew Sorcinelli (Aurorxs) completed a bounce pass off the right wall, which KSC captain Eric Carlo (EricKamii) successfully redirected into the net, to give the Owls the overtime victory 3-2, resulting in a series sweep 3-0 in favor of KSC. 

With this victory, KSC Varsity Rocket League improves to 5-2 on the season in Playfly College Esports Varsity Premier: Positioning them in 4th place in their division. They next play Seton Hall University at 7 PM on Monday October 28th, which will be broadcast live on the official Playfly Twitch page.

Series stats (Goals/Assists/Saves):
Eric "EricKamii" Carlo: 2/4/5

Alex "normal." Nimiroski: 6/1/4

Andrew "Aurorxs" Sorcinelli: 1/2/5

Rocket League Academy

Looking to improve to 4-0 in its inaugural season, KSC's Academy Rocket League team took on the Pioneers of Wayland Baptist University. The Owls took a 2-0 series lead heading into game three, but were unable to put the Pioneers away, as WBU won 1-0 off of an early goal by Sha40wf11re, with 3 minutes, 54 seconds remaining. The Owls were unable to answer, and thus the series went to a fourth game. KSC took charge in game four, leading 4-1. The Pioneers were able to cut the lead a bit, with a goal by iSlippped with 44 seconds remaining. However, this proved to not be enough for WBU, as the Owls were able to hold strong to a 4-2 lead, winning the series 3-1. Ryan Morrison (ExtrmDreamz) led the Owls in goals on the series, including a hat trick in the deciding fourth match.  

KSC Rocket League Academy improves to 4-0 on the season, and stands alone atop Playufly College Esports' Mixed 3 Conference, two games above any other team.

Series stats (Goals/Assists/Saves):
Adam "Stylobiko" Albik: 3/1/6

Jack "Jackattack16000" Manning: 3/1/4

Ryan "ExtrmDreamz" Morrison: 4/1/6

Overwatch 2

Map 1: Control on Illios

The Owls led off with a brawl composition on Illios, with Shea Castriotta (Hotpocket) on D.Va, Eli Volpini (Goofymcgoob) on Reaper, Connor Malone (HoodNut) on Venture, Jack Holderby (Crimgo) on Lucio and team captain Korben Robinson (ShadowStorm) on Kiriko. The Owls stifled RIT Academy Yellow on first point, securing an easy 100%-0% victory. On second point, the Owls switched their composition slightly, moving Hotpocket to Roadhog and Goofymcgoob to Tracer. The Owls once again held RIT tough, not allowing them to capture the point once, making for a 2-0 map victory. Play of the game went to Crimgo on Lucio, which included an environmental elimination on RIT's Cassidy player, along with two additional eliminations on RIT's Kiriko. The Owls secured 65 eliminations as a team, compared to RIT's 10.

Map stats (Eliminations/Assists/Deaths)
Hotpocket: 15/7/1

Goofymcgoob: 17/0/2

HoodNut: 14/1/3

Crimgo: 14/9/0

ShadowStorm: 5/13/1

Map 2: Hybrid on Kings Row

RIT chose King's Row as the destination for map two. The Owls substituted in Matt Bonner (Midas) to take over the tank position, while Catch Foss (TuT) substituted in for Goofymcgoob to take up Damage duties. With four minutes to attempt to hold the first point from RIT, the Owls nearly managed to do so, before falling in the final team fight of the first point as the Tigers secured the payload with just 21 seconds remaining. RIT managed to push the payload 106.63 meters, nearly unlocking the final checkpoint, but the Owls rallied and managed to hold them at bay to flip the map back. The Owls on attack employed their classic Kings Row dive composition and were able to secure the first point payload within the first first team fight, unlocking it in just 46 seconds. From there the Owls maintained momentum, keeping the Tigers on the back foot and subsequently getting to the 106.64 meters necessary to take the game in decisive fashion, with 4 minutes and 7 seconds left to go. Play of the game was awarded to HoodNut on Genji, using his Dragonblade Ultimate ability that was boosted by ShadowStorm's Ana Nano Boost. Despite losing first point, the Owls confirmed 85 eliminations, and RIT confirmed 31.

Map stats (Eliminations/Assists/Deaths)

Midas: 22/4/3

TuT: 23/3/3

HoodNut: 27/1/2

Crimgo: 12/18/2

ShadowStorm: 11/20/2

Map 3: Flashpoint on Suravasa

After losing on Suravasa last week in their only map loss of the season, the Owls looked to rectify this as the Tigers of RIT selected Suravasa as the destination for map 3. Keeping in the lineup from map 2, the Owls were able to secure a 3-0 Flashpoint victory off of swift and decisive teamfighting. The Owls had a collective 89 team eliminations, compared to RIT's 41. Play of the game went to KSC's Crimgo, his second of the series and third on the season, this time on the hero Brigitte. 

Map stats (Eliminations/Assists/Deaths)

Midas: 25/5/2

TuT: 21/2/5

HoodNut: 23/0/4

Crimgo: 10/23/3

ShadowStorm: 10/16/3

VALORANT

Keene State VALORANT competed in two Playfly matchups this week, on Monday and Tuesday evening respectively.

GAME 1: Versus RIT Academy Yellow

Map 1: Haven

On Haven, the Owls came out with a shakeup in terms of which agents they used, and who played them.

Ysaiah Arezzo entered the map on the Agent Neon, Jeremy Giguere (yerrei) on Sova, Hailey Michaud (HMeesh) on Omen, Nathan Ruangturakid (ShotgunUser) on Breach and Sheldom Vasquez on Cypher. Starting map one on defense, the Owls took a 2-1 lead over RIT before dropping the next seven rounds, ultimately resulting in a halftime lead of 8-4 for RIT. On attack, the Owls secured three straight rounds in 15, 16 and 17 to bring the series to a 10-7 split. RIT took the final three rounds to win the first map, 13-10. Of note, three Owls recorded double digit kills: ShotgunUser with 10, HMeesh with 17 and yerrei with 18. HMeesh led the Owls in headshot percentage with an impressive 25%, also good for second in the match.

Map 2: Bind

The Owls had a tougher time on the second map, Bind. With a final score of 13-1 in favor of RIT Academy Yellow, the one round the Owls secured was in round seven. Yerrei led the Owls in kills with 15, which was also good for third most of all players.

GAME 2: Versus California State University Dominguez Hills

Map 1: Bind

CDUSH came out swinging in the first map, securing the first 12 rounds for the Toros. The Owls were able to win three rounds in a row to bring the series to 12-3 before falling to CDUSH in map one 1-13. HMeesh and yerrei were both able to tack on double digit kills in the game, with yerrei's 12 good for third most in the lobby.

Map 2: Ascent

Map two of the Owls versus the Toros was a better showing, as the Owls stayed competitive along the way, with the score being 9-3 at halftime in favor of CSUDH. However, when switching to attack, the Toros were able to stifle the plant attempts from the Owls, and traded round victories until the 18th, where CSUDH took the game with a 13-5 line to take the series 2-0. Yerrei once again led the Owls in kills, with 17, with HMeesh also reaching double digits with 10.

After both games, KSC VALORANT stands at 2-3 on the season, remaining in a three-way tie for fourth place in Playfly College Esports' Mixed 5 Conference.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

KSC SSBU took on UNC Pembroke on Monday evening, and lost the series 0-2.
In match one, Jackson Schimpf (Jackabot27) started the series off strong playing as Steve, with a 1-0 victory over UNC's Pyra/Mythra player, to bring the stock totals to 10 for KSC and nine for UNCP. Issues began to arise when the next UNCP player came in on the character Wii Fit Trainer, which went on to secure all remaining stocks from KSC, giving UNCP a 9-0 victory in match one.

Match 2 saw KSC's captain Aidan Zimmer (Sourdough) kick off the match up on Piranha Plant, one of his signature picks, against UNCP's leadoff of Pyra/Mythra. Like match one, KSC took the first set, with Sourdough defeating Pyra/Mythra 1-0. In response, UNCP brought out Wii Fit Trainer once more, which went on to secure the series victory for UNCP in another 9-0 fashion.

Keene State's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team falls to 1-3 on the season, sharing 7th place with Columbia International University. 

Up Next

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Monday, October 28 at 7:00 PM vs. Iona

• Rocket League Varsity: Friday, October 25th at 7:00 PM vs. Seton Hall University (broadcasted at twitch.tv/playflygg)

• Valorant: Tuesday, October 21 at 8:30 PM vs. RIT Academy Lime

• Overwatch 2: Wednesday, October 30, at 9:45 PM EST vs. UNC Pembroke (broadcasted at twitch.tv/playflygg)

• Rocket League Academy: Monday, November 4th vs. Columbia International University at 8:00 PM and the University of Toledo Gold at 10:30 PM

Follow KSC_Esports on social media for more updates!