The Esports program at Shawnee State University continues to get a flagship effort from a pair of programs -- as the Shawnee State Rocket League and Super Smash Bros contingent combined to go 6-1 over the course of its official matches between National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) in Rocket League play and NACE, as well as Great Lakes Esports Conference (GLEC) for Smash Bros competition, over the past two weeks.
A rundown by game is below:
SSU Rocket League (3-0 -- wins against Lindenwood and Florida Southern, Dayton (NACE) by 3-0 margins)
Continuing its dominating run in Rocket League competition, the Rocket League program at Shawnee State continues to mop the floor against essentially whomever it goes up against as the quartet of Tanis Caltrider, Sean Downard, Dyllan DeBruyne and Blade Taylor continue to dominate their opposition -- as evidenced by sweeps of excellent competition in Lindenwood, Florida Southern and Dayton by 3-0 counts each.
Shawnee State, who defeated Florida Southern by 1-0, 3-1 and 6-0 counts, got a tremendous effort from Downard (Gamertag: Tacostash 84), who posted seven goals and three saves while collecting 1,503 points in all. The Bears also got five goals and three saves from DeBruyne (Gamertag: Duckworth) and two goals, two assists and two saves from Taylor (Gamertag: GZ SlaYeR) in the straight set win over the Mocs, with DeBruyne posting 1,265 points and Taylor adding in 950 tallies.
Shawnee State also collected a convincing three-set win over Dayton -- defeating the Flyers by 4-2, 6-3 and 5-0 margins respectively -- while the Bears took down Lindenwood (Mo.) by 2-0, 2-1 and 5-1 counts to compete a clean run.
The highlight of those two matches was most certainly in a thrilling second set victory over Lindenwood -- where Shawnee State, who was down by a 1-0 margin with 25 seconds left in the second contest, got a game-tying goal from Taylor with 23 seconds to go, then scored again on a fantastic goal by Downard where the latter scored off of a rebound on his own miss with 13 seconds left to give the Bears the 2-1 victory.
SSU Super Smash Bros (3-1 -- wins over Davenport and Siena Heights (2-1 and 2-0 in NACE play), win over Mount Union (2-0 in GLEC competition), loss to Butler (2-1 in NACE action)
Much like their friends on the Rocket League side of the house, the Shawnee State Super Smash Bros program collected a 3-1 record over the same course of time -- with the Bears defeating well-respected national powers in Davenport (Iowa) and Siena Heights (Mich.) and adding a victory over Mount Union for good measure as well.
Sam Patterson (Gamertag: Samarex) was terrific throughout SSU's match against Davenport as Patterson nabbed a team-high 15 stocks to will Shawnee State to the win. Michael Clark (Gamertag: Smooglegad) took seven stocks across three sets while Christopher Mowery (Gamertag: SpaceMiner) helped close the deal by taking six stocks in the match-clinching third and final set alone. While Shawnee State fell to Butler by a 2-1 margin in its next contest, it wasn't without a fantastic effort from Mowery who easily claimed a team-best 21 stocks to make the Bulldogs sweat out a 2-1 triumph over the Bears.
A balanced team effort again was showcased in Shawnee State's triumphs over Siena Heights and Mount Union -- as the Bears breezed past Siena Heights with Simon Rhodes (Gamertag: _BIRD) taking nine stocks while Clark and Mowery added in seven stock wins apiece in its 2-0 match victory over the Huskies while Mowery put the Bears on his back against Mount Union as the standout talent raided the Raiders by nabbing 19 stocks in a dominating 2-0 triumph over Mount Union (6-0, 10-0).
Additional
The SSU League of Legends program dropped 2-0 decisions to Cleveland State, Oakland and Kansas while the SSU Overwatch program lost 3-0 to Cleary and 3-1 to North Carolina-Greensboro.
Members of the Shawnee State Rocket League program traveled to Atlanta, Ga. last weekend to participate in Dreamhack 2024 -- a nationally-renown Esports event. While Shawnee State went 0-2 in the Rocket League Collegiate Invitational, the Bears, who automatically got to participate in the open tournament as a result of their participation in the invitational, finished second in the Rocket League Open Tournament, with only Brewton-Parker (Ga.) bettering SSU.
In additional matches, Blade Taylor won the Fall Guys Open Tournament while Tanis Caltrider advanced to the Round of 16 of the Halo 2 Free for All Finals. This past weekend, Shawnee State was invited to the Kentucky Esports Bluegrass Boost Battle, where the Bears went 2-2 in pool play by defeating Indiana Tech and Cleveland State -- making the playoffs as a result. Shawnee State staved off elimination by defeating Tennessee in the opening round of Bluegrass Boost Battle competition, 3-2, before being knocked out of the Bluegrass Boost Battle Tournament in a competitive quarterfinal defeat to Columbia (Mo.), 4-2.
Further updates will be provided on Esports contests and information as matches and events are finalized.
