KEENE, N.H. – Keene State College Varsity Esports had four teams compete in the first round of their respective postseason brackets last week, going a combined 3-1, with two teams moving on to their conference semifinals.
Keene State Esports is a Varsity member of PlayVS College League (PCL). Formerly known as Playfly College Esports, PCL is one of the largest governing bodies of collegiate esports competition in the world. PCL sanctions competitions from colleges and universities across the United States and Canada, awarding scholarship money and hardware to successful teams each season (Fall and Spring).
KSC Esports teams compete in a regular season schedule and a playoff bracket, if they qualify. Divisions of play are divided into two categories: Premier and Ranked, with Premier being the highest level of play PCL offers. Premier competition includes scholarships and in-person end-of-season tournaments (known as LAN's). KSC's Varsity Rocket League and Overwatch 2 teams are designated for PCL Premier while KSC VALORANT, Academy Red and Black, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate compete in PCL Ranked.
All KSC Esports games are streamed on Twitch, at
twitch.tv/KeeneStateEsports and
twitch.tv/KeeneStateEsports2, as well as KSC Athletics' official YouTube page
youtube.com/@keenestateowls1909.
Keene State Rocket League
KSC Rocket League Academy Red missed out on their playoff bracket but were granted a berth in the PCL Ranked 3 Consolation bracket where they were set to take on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Tuesday night. IE were unable to field a full team and thus KSC won via forfeit. Their season has officially ended and they will return for Spring 2026.
KSC Rocket League Academy Black took on the University of Arkansas - Monticello on Tuesday evening.
Game 1: Joe "Julio" Aste got the Owls on the board early with a goal at the 0:52 mark. Owen "Slend" Burrill extended KSC's lead to 2-0 with his own goal at 1:55 assisted by Adam "Stylobiko" Albik. The next goal came from MoistExploit at 2:28 to tie the game. Both teams traded goals back and forth with Slend scoring at 3:10 and UAM's ThanoresRL off of the ensuing kickoff at 3:13. This 3-3 tie would carry over into sudden-death overtime where Going4Speed sealed the game for UAM after one minute and 41 seconds of overtime to give the Weevils a 1-0 series lead.
Game 2: Contrary to the first game of the series, game two was marked by tremendous defense from both teams. A 0-0 tie at the end of regulation led to the second straight overtime period to start the series. After just seven seconds of overtime, MoistExplot scored to take game two for UAM.
Game 3: UAM got on the board early with a goal by Going4Speed at 0:20. They went on to hold a 1-0 lead for over two minutes until Stylobiko scored and tied the game for the Owls at 2:35. The 1-1 tie would end regulation and a third straight overtime period was needed to decide the winner of game three. At 1:27, Going4Speed scored the game-winning goal to give UAM a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Game 4: The Weevils struck first again as Going4Speed scored at 0:20. Stylobiko scored at 1:27 to tie the game, and that was answered by Going4Speed at 1:43 to give UAM a 2-1 lead. Going4Speed scored their third goal of the game for the Weevils at 2:06 to increase their lead to 3-1. Julio got the Owls within one goal at 2:29, assisted by Slend. ThanoresRL would score an unassisted goal at 2:58 to widen the gap yet again to a 4-2 UAM lead. The Owls managed to score at 5:00 with time expiring to make the score 4-3; however this would not be enough and UAM completed the sweep of KSC Rocket League Academy Red and eliminated them from playoff contention.
Keene State VALORANT battled Chapman University on Thursday, November 20th in their quarterfinal-round match.
Map 1: Haven
Chapman started on attack to begin the first half of Haven. The Owls took an early 2-0 lead on defense, with Chapman taking round three. KSC won five out of the next six rounds, including three straight in rounds seven through nine. The teams traded victories through the end of the first half, with KSC taking a 9-3 lead into the second half as they transitioned to attack.
On round 13, the first round of the second half, Jeremy "yerrei" Giguere, as the agent Sova, killed two of Chapman's players with one shock dart while they attempted to defuse the spike en route to a round win for the Owls. Chapman managed to win one round on defense, but KSC remained firmly in control and would win Haven by a round score of 13-4 to take one 1-0 series lead.
Team captain Hailey "HMeesh" Michaud, as Omen, led the way for the Owls, leading all players with 20 kills; she was also second in assists with 10.
Map 2: Bind
KSC began this map on defense and took a commanding 12-0 lead during the first half of the map. Chapman was able to take round 13 as the teams transitioned to a pistol round and with that momentum they won the 14th round. KSC recovered, however, and won round 15 to win Bind by a score of 13-2, winning the PCL Ranked 6 Quarterfinal by a score of 2-0. HMeesh, as Brimstone, once again led all players in kills with 19, and also boasted a 128 Econ Rating, nearly double that of the next highest player.
What's next: KSC VALORANT have advanced to the PCL Ranked 6 Semifinals and will take on University of St. Thomas (Texas) on the evening of Thursday, December 4th. This will be KSC VALORANT's third conference semifinal appearance in a row, dating back to their inaugural season as a team in Fall 2024. Should KSC win, they will compete for the conference championship on Thursday, December 11th and it would be their first appearance in such a game.
Keene State Super Smash Bros. Ultimate began their postseason run on Friday, November 21st at 7 PM against Glenville State University.
Game 1: Keene State student-athlete Jackson "Jackabot27" Schimpf opened the contest for the Owls as Steve and GSU started with their first player as King K. Rool. Jackabot would emerge the victor from this matchup by taking all of King K. Rool's stocks and retaining one, to give KSC a 10-9 stock lead. The second player for GSU came in as Captain Falcon. Jackabot managed to take one stock off of Captain Falcon before losing his final win. Second for the Owls was Tyler "Tadpole" Adkins as Chrom, with KSC holding a 9-8 stock advantage. Tadpole took both of Captain Falcons stocks without losing one of his own, which put the Owls in the match's driver seat with a 9-6 stock lead.
GSU's next player selected Incineroar. Tadpole took one of their stocks before losing all three of his. As KSC's next player entered, the Owls held a 6-5 stock lead. Brody "Ph4r0h" Freehling came in as Min Min. Ph4r0h eliminated one of Incinceroar's stocks but were unable to keep up and lost all three of theirs. This gave GSU their first stock lead of the series (4-3) as KSC team captain Aidan "Sour" Zimmer entered as Piranha Plant. Sour defeated Incineroar without losing a stock, which re-tied the game at three stocks per team. This set up a final one on one scenario in this game, where the victor would decide the winner of game one. GSU sent in their final player as Bowser Jr. (Morton). Morton took one stock off of Sour, but Sour held the advantage throughout the matchup and fully eliminated Morton to grant KSC a 2-0 stock victory in game one, and a 1-0 series lead.
Game 2: Jackabot opened the game yet again for the Owls and this time GSU led with Ganondorf. Both players traded stocks with one another, but Jackabot came out on top and gave KSC a 10-9 stock lead yet again as player two entered for the Pioneers. Captain Falcon was the second player for Glenville State, and Jackabot was able to take one stock from Captain Falcon before being eliminated. This set up the Owls with a 9-8 stock advantage.
Entering second for the Owls was Matt "Squidman" Silvestri, as Mario. Squidman took Captain Falcon's final two stocks and retained all three of his, pushing KSC's advantage to 9-6. The third player for GSU entered as Wolf. Squidman would lose out to Wolf, but took one stock away before being fully defeated. This swung momentum in GSU's favor, as the Owls only held a 6-5 stock advantage. Coming in next for KSC was Sour, once again as Piranha Plant. Sour won out in this matchup, taking Wolf's final two stocks while holding two himself, reasserting a two-stock lead for Keene State (5-3). The final player for GSU in this game entered as King K. Rool. King K. Rool managed to eliminate Sour twice without losing any stocks which set up the second 3-3 stock battle between both teams' final players.
Anchoring KSC was Ph4r0h as Min Min. With three stocks a piece, both players had a chance to either send their team to the PCL semifinals, or keep their season alive and force a deciding game three. In the matchup, Glenville State's King K. Rool held total control, taking two of Ph4r0h's stocks without losing one, which set up the Pioneers with a 3-1 stock lead. Not deterred, Ph4r0h held on for Keene State and took two stocks from King K. Rool to set up a one on one stock battle. This scenario was marked by Ph4r0h having already taken 58% damage to King K. Rool's 0%. Despite the disadvantage, Ph4r0h managed to clutch the game, defeating King. Rool while having 128.1% damage taken; a scenario where any hit would've likely eliminated them. Because of this, KSC won the match with a 1-0 stock lead, and thus the series 2-0, sending Keene State Super Smash. Bros to the conference semifinals for the first time in team history.
What's next: Keene State Super Smash Bros will take on St. John's University in the PCL Ranked 1 conference semifinals on Friday, December 5th. The winner of that match will compete for the conference championship on Friday, December 12th.
