Esports opens the 2021 spring season

MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW esports team opened the 2021 calendar this past week. The Falcons competed in Call of Duty and Hearthstone.

"This semester is going to be the biggest ever for our program," said head coach Lewis Smith. "We will have more players and teams competing than ever, and at a higher level than ever before. Our Call of Duty team started the semester off right with a big 2-0 record in the first week and it always feels amazing to beat UW-Madison. We are still a new program, but we do not want to use that as an excuse any longer. This semester is where we build our tradition of winning."

The Falcons opened the week with a 3-2 victory over Wisconsin in Call of Duty with the team of junior Luc Kreuser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.), junior Nathan Bauknecht (Crandon, Wis.), freshman Sean Hofstetter (Columbia, Wis.) and freshman Hunter Kanneberg (Port Washington, Wis.). The birds fell in the first hardpoint game, 250-181, Hofstetter led the flock with 39 eliminations. The Blue and White bounced back in search and destroy in game two, 6-3. Bauknecht and Hofstetter both had 10 eliminations. After falling in the third game, CUW responded with a 250-214 hardpoint victory; and a 6-3 search and destroy victory in game five. Sean Hofstetter secured 116 eliminations in the victory over the Badgers.

"It doesn't get any more perfect than a 2-0 week one," said coach Smith. "But we still struggled enough where we have a lot of learning lessons coming out of the week. Not going to lie though, we were all super hyped for these matches. We kept the emotions in check enough to still get the W's. Now we have some momentum going into tougher weeks."                                                             

CUW closed the Call of Duty evening with a 3-1 victory over South Dakota. After being edged in the first hardpoint game, 250-247, the Falcons responded with a 6-4 search and destroy victory, a 3-2 control victory and a 250-216 hardpoint victory to claim the victory. Sean Hofstetter had 117 eliminations in the competition, followed by Luc Kreuser with 107.

"I'm extremely impressed with the games we played and how far we've come as a team," Kreuser stated. "It's great to win with these guys and have the support. Good to be 2-0, but last week is over and it's onto the next games."                                                                                   

Senior Charles Kingma (Port Washington, Wis.) secured a pair of Hearthstone victories on Tuesday night. Kingma defeated Arcadia SunSovereign, 3-2, with victories with the Token Druid, Control Warlock and Weapon Rogue decks.

"This match was a nail biter," said Kingma. "But I had great fun! I'm not set on this deck line up, but I think having a control deck was useful. My cheese paladin was banned out which was nice because it meant I could use token druid."

He then closed the night with a 3-1 win over UHSP KatieFinch. After falling in the first game, he won with the Control Warlock, Nzoth Highlander Paladin and Token Druid decks.

"While looking at my opponent's decklists, I could tell they were a newer player, or at the very least, not professionally competitive," said Kingma. "With that being said, I still lost a game and had a couple of others I won with less than 12 health. It's important not to underestimate opponents and their decks."

The Falcons will compete this week in Call of Duty, Fortnite, Rainbow 6 Seige, Hearthstone and Rocket League.