Esports has a week filled with challenges
MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW esports team hit some turbulence over this past week. The Falcons competed in Call of Duty, Starcraft, Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, Hearthstone and Rocket League.
The Call of Duty 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.) fell to DePaul, 0-3 on Monday night.
"Split one definitely ended in a tough fashion," said head coach Lewis Smith "But we honestly didn't deserve to with either of these last two series. So I cannot complain. Just have to decide what kind of team we want to be, then get to work."
The Falcons split the week in Rocket League with the team of senior Alex Reimer (Sheboygan, Wis.), senior Ethan Koch (Fredericksburg, Iowa) and junior Austin Esterly (Lombard, Ill.). Chardon State picked up a 3-2 victory on Monday night. Esterly led CUW with six goals. The Blue and White were able to break even on the week with a 3-2 victory over Southern Mississippi on Tuesday night. Austin Esterly led CUW again with six goals and 10 saves.
CUW came up short in the battle of Concordias in Overwatch. The team of junior Rebecca Gehm (Frankenmuth, Mich.), sophomore Tony Mastrocola (Waterford, Wis.), freshman Caleb Durst (Bonduel, Wis.) and sophomore Margaret Vesey (Cudahy, Wis.) fell to Concordia Nebraska, 2-1. The Falcons took the first game, 2-1, where Gehm had 33 defensive assists. The Bulldogs took the next two games, 2-1 and 3-2.
"This will go down as the most productive loss of our team," said Smith. "We have been improving, but clearly need to make changes to get to where we would like to be. This will be a big week of practice for us."
Hearthstone saw Jackson Kral fall to Bay Shore, 2-3. He took the two victories with the Gibberling Druid and Zoo Warlock decks.
"Very close matches but I think his matchups were slightly more favored than mine and that secured him the win," stated Kral.
CUW picked up a forfeit victory in Rainbow Six Seige against St. Ambrose.
Six Falcons competed in Fortnite Solo Play on Tuesday night. Freshman Steven Pieroni (Danvers, Mass.) led the flock with a third-place finish with 667 points and 33 eliminations.
Concordia also competed in Fortnite Trios play on Wednesday. The team of Steven Pieroni, sophomore Colby Williams (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) and sophomore Anthony Garron (Danvers, Mass.) finished in 43rd place with 322 points.
The Blue and White picked up four victories in Smash Bros solo play. Junior Gideon Cain (Cedarburg, Wis.) secured a 2-0 victory to improve to 4-0 on the year. Cain defeated Rogers State with Wolf and Dk. Sophomore De'Shawn Ford (Gardena, Calif.) shocked Wichita State with a 2-1 victory with ZSS and junior Kurtis Polodna (North Prairie, Wis.) downed Rodgers State.
Andrew Gordon started the Starcraft season with a 2-1 loss to Kirito in the ESL Open Cup.
"It was a fun and competitive first tournament for me," said Gordon. "It felt great to come back and make it three full games. I've learned a lot from the games and I'm excited to see how the next tournament goes.
The Falcons look to get back on track this week.
