Esports wraps up a busy week

MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW esports team competed in Call of Duty, Hearthstone, Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch, Smash Bros and Warzone.

The Falcons remained undefeated on the year in Call of Duty with a pair of 3-0 victories over Roosevelt and Lewis. CUW collected a 250-110 victory in Hardpoint, a 6-2 victory in Search and Destroy and a 3-2 victory in Control against Roosevelt. Freshman Sean Hofstetter (Columbia, Ill.) and freshman Hunter Kanneberg (Port Washington, Wis.) had 69 eliminations in the victory. Concordia also downed the Flyers of Lewis with a 250-247 Hardpoint victory, a 6-2 win in Search and Destroy and a 3-0 sweep in Control. Hofstetter had 91 eliminations in the victory over Lewis.

"That was another great team win," said junior Nathan Bauknecht of Crandon, Missouri. "Our focus was to not play down to teams that were still trying to figure themselves out, and the clean 6-0 map count showed that. Hopefully will be a confidence booster for our coming matchup, but we're ready for what's up next."

The Warzone team of senior Dylan Karvala (New Berlin, Wis.) and sophomore Chase Coots (Round Rock, Texas) opened the season on Friday night. The Falcons finished in first place in rounds one and three. Karvala led the duo with 59 eliminations.

 "I don't know what happened today," said Karvala. "But Chase and I were locked in and our communication with each other was on point."

The Falcons also competed in Smash Solos on the week with the team of junior Nathanael Quezada (St. Charles, Mo.), junior Gideon Cain (Cedarburg, Wis.), senior Micah Chilman (Las Vegas, Nev.), sophomore De'Shawn Ford (Gardena, Calif.) and junior Kurtis Polodna (North Prairie, Wis.). Cain claimed a 2-0 victory with Wolf and DJ Ford defeated Rogers State with a 2-0 victory.

The team of junior Rebecca Gehm (Frankenmuth, Mich.), sophomore Tony Mastrocola (Waterford, Wis.), freshman Caleb Dunst (Bonduel, Wis.) and sophomore Margaret Vesey (Cudahy, Wis.) fell in Overwatch against Fresno State, 1-2. The Falcons picked up a 2-0 victory in game one against the Bulldogs where Andrew Wahl had 9262 healing done and Nick Adelmund had 30 eliminations.

The Blue and White fought in the NACE Duos Week Two competition in Fortnite. The team of freshman Steven Pieroni (Danvers, Mass.) and sophomore Anthony Garron (Danvers, Mass.) highlighted the night with a fifth-place finish in round two.

"We were forced to rotate out of our original landing spot first game," said Pieroni. "We rotated out into three teams and we had nothing to fight with. The second game we fought well and played together, we ran out of mats after not finding a kill and didn't place higher."

The Falcons secured a Rocket League victory with the team of senior Alex Reimer (Sheboygan, Wis.), senior Ethan Koch (Fredericksburg, Iowa) and junior Austin Esterly (Lombard, Ill.). CUW took the match with a 3-1 victory over Central Missouri. The Falcons won the first and third games, 3-2, and the fourth game, 4-3. Alex Reimer had seven goals in the victory.

"Even though we did seem to play down to the level of our opponents," said Esterly. "We still laid the hammer down when it mattered."

Junior Jack Kral collected a 3-2 victory over Dartmouth to move to 1-1 on the season. He collected victories with the Token Druid, Whirlkick Rogue and Libroom Paladin decks.

"This was the closest match I've ever had. It was back and forth every match and this competition could have ended either way," said Kral. "Whether it was an unlucky summon during the Rogue vs Zoo game or the constant counters in the Paladin vs Demon Hunter game, we were both in it until the very end."

The Rainbow Six Siege team of freshman Sean Sullivan (West Bend, Wis.), sophomore Grant Andrada (Plymouth, Minn.), sophomore Paul Witto (Charleston, Ill.), freshman Jack Brennan (Grafton, Wis.) and Caden Perry dropped their first match of the year to Cal Davis, 0-2. Sullivan led the squad with 16 eliminations.

The Falcons dropped a Rocket League match to Kansas Wesleyan, 0-3. Evan Moody scored the lone goal for the Blue and White on the night.

CUW will continue to compete as we close the calendar on February.