BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University Rocket League team has recently stormed onto the collegiate scene to kick off their inaugural PlayVS season. The PlayVS league contains some of the best collegiate RL teams in the country and includes a $50,000 scholarship purse to the top schools. They also award a $1,500 scholarship to the player with the most goals, assists and saves. In addition to these monetary incentives, the top eight teams who have yet to qualify for CRL this Spring will have their final chance in the Collegiate Rocket League Wildcard event this December. There they will fight for a spot in the CRL National Championship, which is the premier collegiate Rocket League today.
MATCH 1 (BEST OF 5) - UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT (UCONN)
- The Tornado took the first round from UConn by score 5-2
- Matthew Bilbruck grabs MVP with 2 goals, 3 assists and 5 saves
- UConn did a great job in the second round to slow the pace of the game down as not a single point was scored until over three minutes into the action
- Incredible ball movement and corner control from Luke Buffington and Bilbruck set up a 1-0 Tornado lead
- The momentum began to mount as Rory Johnsen follows a Buffington fake in for an easy score
- Easily the play of the game was a Bilbruck aerial pass to Buffington at midfield who immediately crossed to Johnsen for another score. A true 1-2-3 punch for the Tornado
- Buffington would manage a slam dunk from mid field to finish the second round with score 4-0
- Johnsen and Buffington both scored two goals in the second match and Bilbruck cashed in two saves
- By the third round King University was unstoppable
- Their ball movement and constant control of UConn's corner prompted a final round win by score 6-0
- Matt and Luke both finished with 3 goals this round and the Tornado win this best of three round matchup
- Final Score: King 3, UConn 0
MATCH 2 (BEST OF 5) - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO - A (UIC-A)
- Bilbruck strikes first in this round to give the Tornado an early 1-0 lead
- UIC managed a goal but Buffington strikes back immediately to keep the lead 2-1
- UIC again knotted the score up 2-2 but King keeping the three pronged attack alive set up Johnsen for another Tornado goal, yielding one goal a piece for each player in the trio
- Bilbruck broke the alternating score trend with some fancy footwork and great passing from Buffington. They set up two goals to increase their lead to 4-2 and to win the first round
- Bilbruck grabs three goals this round, Buffington cashes in two assists and Johnsen holds strong with three saves
- UIC put up a strong fight early in the second round but found themselves down 4-1 midway through
- Bilbruck continues the scoring onslaught with three goals this round
- Buffington and Johnsen came up with two assists a piece
- The third round shows King again looking for early opportunities. Johnsen scores the first goal of the round in five seconds
- UIC is able to change the pace in this match and found themselves with their first lead of the night by score 2-3
- UIC would go on to win this round by score 4-3
- In the fourth round Luke Buffington goes absolutely off the rails
- He scores two solo goals from midfield, three goals from incredible Tornado ball movement and has eight shots total, which was more than the entire team of UIC combined
- This incredible performance sets up the fourth round win for King by score 5-2 and the total best of five match victory
- Final Score: King 3, UIC 1
MATCH 3 (BEST OF 5) - MARYLAND UNIVERSITY GOLD
- In the first round the Tornado were looking to boost their stats for the scholarships mentioned above
- Bilbruck alone comes up with 4 saves this round, Buffington manages three goals and Johnsen grabs two goals
- King wins the first round 5-1
- MUG cleaned up their approach in the second round as no goals were until the last minute
- King had extremely sound control on MUG's side of the field but were having trouble connecting a shot
- Luke Buffington sees the opportunity and lobs one from the corner over two defenders for the first goal of the round
- MUG realizes they have to open their offense and try to score some points but allow another Tornado goal from a Buffington backboard assist to Bilbruck goal
- Buffington slams two more goals home to win round two by score 4-0
- In the third round the Tornado touch down early with another Buffington goal
- MUG would strike back though and tie the round 1-1
- Bilbruck makes a nice touch to Buffington who goes right back to Bilbruck for the easy score, giving King the lead 2-1
- MUG did a great job fighting their way back into the round but the Tornado were just too much to handle as King wins this round 5-2
- Final Score: King 3, Maryland Gold 0
MATCH 4 (BEST OF 5) - MARYLAND UNIVERSITY RED
- The Tornado were ready to play in the first round as each part of the trio score a goal before the first minute was over to take the lead 3-0
- Maryland tightened up their defense and no other goals were score for two minutes
- Buffington and Johnsen both tacked one on for the Tornado to win the first round 5-1
- The Tornado would strike first in the second round as Bilbruck makes an incredible fake through two defenders for a King 1-0 lead
- Maryland would retaliate though and tie the score 1-1
- But Bilbruck again drops an easy one in from an immaculate Buffington aerial assist to get the lead back 2-1
- Later Bilbruck continues his streak with a dart from the three point line after a short Johnsen back pass
- Maryland does a great job scoring two quickly with one minute remaining to tie the score 3-3 and take the round into overtime
- Maryland manages to go on a 3-0 run to win in overtime and tie the match series 1-1
- Usually after a round loss we see Luke Buffington come alive. This round was no exception as he scores two in one minute and then sets up an easy goal for Johnsen to give the Tornado an early 3-0 lead
- Buffington would score another goal in this round to finish off the hat trick and propel King to a 2-1 match lead.
- Maryland would still not go down without a tough fight as the fourth round was tied 1-1 with two minutes remaining
- But again Luke Buffington would beat two Maryland defenders in his drive to the goal to give the Tornado a 2-1 lead
- Bilbruck manages a very nice goal from the Maryland's corner to extend the lead 3-1 and give the Tornado some breathing room
- King would hold Maryland off for the remainder of this match to take the win
- Final Score: King 3, Maryland Red 1
