Esports weekly round-up (Sept. 22)
MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW esports team opened the season this past week. The Falcons competed in League of Legends, Rocket League, Fortnite and Hearthstone.
"My personal goal for everybody in the first couple weeks is to have everybody feel the difference between how they are used to playing the game and the true esports side of playing," said head coach Lewis Smith. "It really is completely different and forces our players to approach the game differently. It's helpful that we have preseason matches and scrimmages for LoL and Fortnite to help our new players make this adjustment, but it is an adjustment that will take us a couple of weeks to accomplish, whether winning or losing."
On Monday, the Falcons secured a 3-1 victory over Arkansas Tech in Hearthstone. In the NACE Round 1, the team of junior Jack Kral (Kohler, Wis.) and senior Charles Kingma (Port Washington, Wis.) took a 2-0 lead with the Guadian Druid and Bomb Warrior decks against ATU's Libram Paladin Deck. CUW used the Soul Shard Demon Hunter deck, but fell in game three to the Libram Paladin deck, but CUW bounced back to win with the Soul Shard Demon Hunter to win 3-1 against the Bomb Warrior deck.
In the Collegiate Rocket League Qualifiers, CUW dropped a pair of games against Illinois Tech and Northeastern State with the team of senior Alex Reimer (Sheboygan, Wis.), senior Ethan Koch (Fredericksburg, Iowa), junior Andrew Burk (Townsend, Del.) and junior Austin Esterly (Lombard, Ill.).
The Falcons fell to Illinois Tech, 0-2, Austin Esterly led the flock with two saves and a goal.
"It was a close game," said Alex Reimer. "We just have to start capitalizing on the other team's mistakes and taking better shots."
The Blue and White closed Sunday with a 1-2 loss to Northeastern State, where Ales Reimer scored a goal and Austin Esterly notched five shots and saves.
League of Legends started on Wednesday in a scrimmage against Flying Raijin, where CUW fell 19-2 and 25-9. Senior Jonah Fowle (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) led CUW with four kills, while senior Stanton Konetzki (Sheboygan, Wis.) finished with six assists.
CUW competed in the NACE Fall Preseason in weeks one and two. In week one, the Falcons finished in 18th place out of 49 teams.
"Gingi put us in good position to perform and I feel I only did half the time," said Kodee Keys. "Work is still needed, but we're making progress in the right direction."
Week Two saw Concordia finish in 39th place out of 87 teams.
The Falcons will return to action again this upcoming week in Rocket League, League of Legends, Fortnite and Hearthstone.
