KEENE, N.H. – Keene State College Esports' VALORANT team competed in their PCL Ranked 4 semifinal playoff game on Thursday evening, coming up short against Colorado School of Mines JV and being eliminated from championship contention.
 
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. For Spring 2026, all five KSC Esports squads are competing within the Ranked designation.
 
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. Occasionally, games are also streamed on PCL's official Twitch: twitch.tv/PlayVS_College.
 
Map 1: Bind
The Owls began Bind on attack and started off strong with a 2-0 lead. The Orediggers responded in kind with wins in rounds three and four to tie it up. This would be the first of several times both squads traded round wins alongside subsequent ties. A 7-7 precipitated the final stretch of the first map, with KSC and Mines trying to finally break through and gain ground on their opponent. The Orediggers began to pull away by winning rounds 15 and 16  to take a 9-7 lead on attack, while Owls took round 17 to make it a one score game.
 
The Orediggers began to pull away with the beginning of round 18, however as they went on to win rounds 18 through 21 straight to win Bind by a score of 13-8, taking a 1-0 series lead and pushing KSC on their backfoot. Leading KSC in kills on Bind was Thomas "Chumbladorfian" Czwakiel as Raze with 16, followed by Hailey "HMeesh" Michaud with 13 as Brimstone.
 
Map 2: Haven
KSC attacked first on Haven as well, and started off with an even better lead than Bind with a 4-0 advantage heading into round five. Mines were able to swing momentum back and take four out of the next five rounds, with KSC holding a 5-4 lead heading into round ten. The Orediggers, on defense, won the final three rounds of the first half to take a 7-5 lead into their attack on Haven. Mines maintained the pace they set at the end of the first half by winning rounds 13 and 14 to make it 9-5.
 
Despite the deficit and finding themselves at a 12-9 deficit and Mines on Match Point, KSC clawed back to stay within arm's reach of Mines as they took the score to 12-11. With a win in the 24th round, KSC would trigger an overtime period that required a team to win two consecutive rounds to win Haven. However, in round 24, Colorado School of Mines were able to stave off the Keene State comeback with a scrappy fight on site A to defeat KSC 13-11 and take Haven alongside a 2-0 series victory that ended KSC VALORANT's dreams of a repeat championship.
 
Despite the map loss, the Owls saw strong individual performances with Jeremy "yerrei" Giguere contributing 19 as Sova: the third most in the lobby and leading KSC. Closely behind with Sheldom "redblast" Vasquez with 18 as Cypher.
 
 
What's next: Keene State VALORANT will take on The College of New Jersey on Thursday April 23rd at 7:30 PM to decide the third place finish in PCL's Ranked 4 conference. KSC last took on TCNJ on March 26th, 2026, losing 2-1.