Beckley, West Virginia – Halloween is still two weeks away, but it was already spooky season in the WVU Tech Esports lab Monday night, as Rocket Leaguer SpookyWarrior90 (Ethan Mcie, Fr.) racked up goals like they were candy in a win over Keiser University-Sarasota.
Together with the efforts of teammates THETREVDOG00 (Trevor James Morrison, Sr.) and FARGO (Waleed Alghamdi, Fr.), SpookyWarrior's nine goals on the night helped the Golden Bears end a two-game skid with a 3-0 decision over the Seahawks.
Rocket League, created by Epic Games, is basically arcade style soccer played with rocket powered cars. In the NACE (National Association of Collegiate Esports) format, teams play five minute matches, three versus three. The teams play a best-of-five series to determine a winner.
In game one, The Golden Bears and Seahawks played even for most of the first three minutes, until THETREVDOG00 broke the ice with a match-opening goal with 2:09 remaining, before FARGO followed it up with another goal with 2:04 left. Keiser-Sarasota then responded with a goal from player King Lans with 1:32 remaining, making the score 2-1 Tech. FARGO would put the game away with a goal at :24 left, and the Golden Bears claimed a 3-1 win.
In game two, spooky season commenced. SpookyWarrior90 notched the first goal within the first minute with 4:35 remaining, then two more quick ones at 2:57 and 2:55 remaining. FARGO contributed a pair of goals at 2:51 and 2:44 remaining, before SpookyWarrior90 decided to go trick-or-treating, collecting four more goals at 1:48, 1:45, 1:33 and 1:31. Keiser-Sarasota's only response came as time expired, with a last-second goal from player AlphaAsmund. WVU Tech won the game 9-1.
In game three, the two teams played more evenly and the Seahawks jumped out early with a goal from player JenaLee109 with 4:01 remaining. SpookyWarrior90 would quickly answer, notching the equalizer with 3:59 left. Both sides battled for a time, tied 1-1 until SpookyWarrior90 again broke the stalemate with a goal at 2:35 remaining. FARGO then opened up the Golden Bear lead with a goal at 1:22, making it 3-1. But Keiser-Sarasota would rally, getting goals from AlfaAsmund at 1:11 and JenaLee109 with :35 left to send the game into overtime. FARGO buried the game and match winner in OT at +1:43, taking the game 4-3.
On the night, SpookyWarrior90 led the scoring with nine total goals and two assists. He fired 25 shots on goal and made one save. FARGO had six total goals including the overtime winner in game three, five assists, three saves and 13 shots. THETREVDOG00 had a goal, two assists and four shots.
The WVU Tech Rocket League (2-2) team plays again Monday, October 24 at 7:00 against Shawnee State.
