KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State Varsity Esports program went a combined 3-2 in five total Playfly College Esports Varsity matchups this week. Like last week, 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 November 4, 2024:

• Rocket League Varsity: 5-3

• Rocket League Academy: 4-0

• Valorant: 3-3

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 2-4

• Overwatch 2: 5-0

Rocket League Varsity

Rocket League Varsity faced off against the Pirates of Seton Hall University in Playfly College Esports Varsity Premier. The Pirates entered the game with a 6-0 record, and the Owls 5-2. The game was streamed on the official Playfly league Twitch channel, rather than KSC Esports' channels.

Match 1:

The Owls fired the opening salvo in the first match of the series. After constant pressure on Seton Hall's side of the field, Andrew Sorcinelli (Aurorxs) scored the first goal, with 3 minutes, 12 seconds remaining. However, the Pirates were able to stave off following attempts from KSC, and scored three unanswered goals to win the first match 3-1.

Match 2:

Seton Hall opened the match with an early goal, after just 43 seconds. The Owls responded with a goal of their own by Eric Carlo (EricKamii) who followed up a miss by Aurorxs to tie the game at one all with 2 minutes, 36 seconds left. For the rest of regulation, Keene State and Seton Hall traded shot attempts, with neither side giving an inch, sending the match to sudden-death overtime. The overtime period was intense, with both teams playing tough. Seton Hall finally broke the stalemate with a goal by Stokelyy one minute and 43 seconds into overtime to win the match for Seton Hall and take a 2-0 series lead.

Match 3:
Match 3 was a tougher task for Keene State following the overtime loss.

Seton Hall opened the match with 2 goals in the first minute, to go up 2-0. However, the Owls responded quickly as Alex Nimiroski (normal.) scored to put the Owls in just a one goal deficit with 3 minutes, 55 seconds left. From there, however, the Pirates took control of the match and subsequently scored 4 more goals, all unanswered, to win the match 6-1 and take the series 3-0.

Series stats (Goals/Assists/Saves):
Eric "EricKamii" Carlo: 1/0/6

Alex "normal." Nimiroski: 1/0/7

Andrew "Aurorxs" Sorcinelli: 1/2/9

Overwatch 2

Keene State's Varsity Overwatch team entered this week with their biggest match of the season thus far, as they put their 4-0 record up against the 5-0 record of UNCP Pembroke; a battle for first place in their Playfly College Esports division. This match, like Rocket League Varsity, was streamed on the official Playfly College Esports Twitch channel.

Map 1: Control on Illios

The Owls won the opening coin toss which allowed them to select the Control map for the first game of the best-of-5 series. The Owls selected Ilios, and began the match with their typical Control lineup of Shea Castriotta (Hotpocket) in at tank, Eli Volpini (Goofymcgoob) and Connor Malone (HoodNut) in at damage, along with Jack Holderby (Crimgo) and team captain Korben Robinson (ShadowStorm) taking support duties.

KSC started off hot, led by strong Roadhog play by tank Shea Castriotta, who opened the map by hooking UNCP's tank player Megalass into the large well in the middle of the first Control point, resulting in an environmental kill and huge momentum for KSC. This would go on to happen a second time in a row, as Megalass switched from Orisa to Mauga, and once again got hooked to open the team fight. KSC capitalized by winning subsequent fights handily and winning the first control point 100%-0%.

On point 2, the Owls kept their foot on the proverbial gas, winning the first teamfight after an initial prolonged scrap. Crimgo opened the floodgates with a melee elimination on UNCP's Antietam (playing Sombra) and the Owls then de-meched UNCP's Megalass (playing D.va). The Owls went on to win point 2 100%-0%, securing the match handily and taking a 1-0 series lead.

Map 2: Hybrid on Kings Row

Having lost map 1, UNCP were permitted to select the Hybrid map for match 2, wherein they selected the ever-popular Kings Row. Like usual for Hybrid maps, Matt Bonner (Midas) substituted in for Hotpocket at tank, and Catch Foss (TuT) came in for Goofymcgoob.

A typically strong map for the Owls, KSC managed to hold the initial capture point from UNCP, before giving up the point with 2 minutes, 28 seconds remaining. UNCP went on to complete the full Kings Row map with one minute, 5 seconds left. Meaning, Keene State needed to minimally complete the entire map on offense themselves to have a chance at claiming victory on Kings Row.

The Owls were able to capture the first point payload slightly faster than UNCP, with 2 minutes, 46 seconds remaining. The Owls met some challenges on the second point as they moved the payload, with UNCP stifling several pushes from KSC. However, the Owls broke through at the final hour, with several acts of heroics coming forward to ensure they captured the second point. Of note, ShadowStorm was able to confirm an elimination on UNCP's Genji, who used their Dragon Blade ultimate ability, before they could take out more than one Owl. ShadowStorm's support counterpart Crimgo also contributed an extremely vital headshot elimination on UNCP's Juno. Midas also contributed greatly, by securing an elimination on UNCP's Ashe and Ramattra players, effectively removing all damage threats from UNCP.

Keene State maintained pressure on UNCP, completing Kings Row with 47 seconds left, being rounded up to 1 minute for the overtime period, opposed to the one minute, 17 seconds left for UNCP.

In the overtime period, both teams would have a chance to attack with their remaining time left, and the team that moved the payload in the furthest amount of time would win the map. Keene State would be the first to attack, and managed to successfully capture the first point of Kings Row, off of a dive variation that capitalized on TuT playing Symmetra, immediately taking out several members of UNCP's team. The Owls moved the payload 33.14 meters past the payload point, meaning they needed to stop UNCP at 33.13 meters or lower to win the map.

UNCP captured the payload themselves and thus a final teamfight ensued below the Kings Row archway. A vital elimination from TuT onto UNCP's Pharah player pushed the Braves onto the backfoot, and a scrappy teamfight ensued. The Owls won the teamfight, stopping UNCP at 29.79 meters. This teamfight included Midas eliminating Player, UNCP's Genji, as their Dragon Blade ultimate charged to 100%, and this elimination was a large contributor to the Owls victory.

Map 3: Flashpoint on Suravasa

Losing Map 3 afforded UNCP the opportunity to select the Flashpoint map, and they chose Suravasa. The Owls kept their Kings Row lineup of Midas, TuT, HoodNut, ShadowStorm and Crimgo out for this map and quickly went up 2-0 in the first-to-three map type. Point 3 went in UNCP's favor, making the map 2-1. On point 4, both teams traded control of the point, with UNCP taking 99% of it, opposed to KSC's 87% heading into the final team fight. As the Owls hit the point, they managed to survive a Graviton Surge from UNCP's Zarya player without losing a single player and turned the tides, as HoodNut used his Cassidy ultimate (Deadeye) to weaken UNCP's Zarya, and confirm the elimination as Crimgo eliminated UNCP's Reaper. The Owls eliminated four Braves before Player, UNCP's Genji, tried to touch the Flashpoint prior to KSC securing 100%, but they did not make it in time. The Owls won Flashpoint with a score of 3-1, resulting in a 3-0 victory for Keene State Overwatch.

VALORANT

Keene State VALORANT was scheduled to take on RIT Academy Lime. However, RIT Lime did not arrive in time for the game, and subsequently forfeited, as KSC VALORANT improved to 3-3 on the season.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Match 1:
KSC SSBU kicked off the week with a match against the Gaels of Iona University. Starting with the lineup of Brody Freehling (pytt), Captain Aidan Zimmer (Sourdough), Leo Tufts (Vort) and Jackson Schimpf (Jackabot27), the Owls led off with Jackabot27 on Steve, versus Iona's first player on Terry. The two exchanged KOs before Terry took away Jackabot27's final stock to win the first set 2-1. Sourdough next came in on Piranha Plant, and took a stock away from Terry, despite losing all three himself. Following that, Vort came in on Peach and took away Terry's finals stock after losing two himself. Following Terry's KO, Iona led 9 to 4. Vort then took a stock of Iona's next player, on Kazuya before losing his final stock. Pytt then came in for KSC, playing Jigglypuff. Pytt managed to take a stock off of Kazuya, but lost all three of theirs, resulting in a final set score of 7-0 in favor of Iona.

Match 2:

KSC kicked off the second set with Sourdough playing King K Rool versus Iona's Kazuya. An intense match ensued where both players were neck and neck. Iona's Kazuya player managed to take out Sourdough with one stock remaining. Following this, Vort came in and took out Kazuya, resulting in Iona bringing in a player on Dark Pit, who took away Vort's final stock, while only losing one themself. Next for KSC was Pytt on R.O.B., who managed to take both remaining stocks away from Iona's Dark Pit while only losing one themself, bringing the series score to 5-6 in favor of Iona. Iona next brought in a Mii Brawler to take on Pytt, who dropped one stock en route to knocking out Pytt on R.O.B. Anchoring KSC was Tyler Adkins (Tadpole) who came in on Chrom. Iona's Mii Brawler was able to stave the comeback, and 3-stocked Tadpole, winning the set 5-0 in favor of Iona University, resulting in a 2-0 match victory for Iona.

KSC SSBU was also set to take on RIT Orange on Friday evening at 7 PM. However, RIT Orange did not arrive in time for the game, and subsequently forfeited, as KSC SSBU improved to 2-4 on the season.

Up Next

• Rocket League Varsity: Monday, November 4th at 7:00 PM vs. Clarke University (final regular season game; must win to make playoffs)

• Rocket League Academy: Monday, November 4th vs. Columbia International University at 8:00 PM and UToledo Gold at 9:00 (final regular season game)

• Valorant: Tuesday, November 5th at 8:00 PM vs. Coffeyville Community College

• Overwatch 2: Wednesday, November 6th at 7:00 PM vs. Camden County College (final regular season game)

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Wednesday, November 6th at 8:30 PM vs. Columbia International University and Thursday, November 7th at 8:15 PM vs. RIT White (final regular season game)

Follow KSC_Esports on social media for more updates!