Beckley, West Virginia – The WVU Tech Rocket League team earned their second consecutive win Monday night with a 3-0 decision over the Shawnee State Bears. Golden Bears players THETREVDOG00 (Trevor James Morrison, Sr.), FARGO (Waleed Alghamdi, Fr.) and SpookyWarrior90 (Ethan Mcie, Fr.) locked down their opponent with stingy defense and maintained steady offensive pressure all match long.
Rocket League, created by Epic Games, is best described as 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 the first game, WVU Tech started fast with the game's opening goal coming from FARGO with 4:43 left. Shawnee State answered quickly with a goal from player Kitty Girl with 4:25 left, then the Golden Bears' defense got into gear. They wouldn't allow SSU any room to breathe the rest of the game, while SpookyWarrior90 built up a WVU Tech lead with three goals at 2:33, 2:13 and 1:55 remaining before FARGO got in on the action with two more goals at 1:12 and :37 to finish off a 6-1 win. Shawnee State had only three shots for the entire five-minute set.
Game two would be another defensive grind, with Shawnee State getting the game's first goal from Kitty Girl with 3:49 left. It would be the Bears' only score the rest of the way, with SpookyWarrior90 getting the tying goal on a long clear off the opposite side back wall that found it's way in with 2:53 remaining. FARGO got the go-ahead goal at 2:04 left with a long shot from beyond mid-field, set up by a beautiful pass from THE TREVDOG00 off the side wall. WVU Tech would hang on to win that one 2-1.
In game three, WVU Tech struck first, getting a goal from FARGO in the first seven seconds at 4:53 left. SpookyWarrior90 followed it up with a goal at 4:40 left to make it 2-0 Golden Bears. The only response from Shawnee State came at 4:18 left with a goal from player K-Unit. THETREVDOG00 dashed the Bears' hopes at a rally with a goal at 4:01 remaining to make it 3-1 WVU Tech, and their defense locked it down from there. FARGO tacked on an insurance goal with 1:57 left and the Golden Bears took a 4-1 game three win to the bank, giving them a 3-0 match win.
WVU Tech Scoring Totals: THETREVDOG00 – 1 Goal, 1 Assist, 4 Shots. FARGO – 6 Goals, 3 Assists, 13 Shots, 1 Save. SpookyWarrior90 – 5 Goals, 3 Assists, 14 shots, 1 Save.
The WVU Tech Rocket League team moves to 3-2 for the fall semester, with next week's regular season finale coming up against the Ferris State Bulldogs (2-2) Monday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m.
