BRISTOL, Tenn. – King University esports kicked off 2022 competition this week with FIFA 22, Madden 22, Valorant and Rocket League action. Valorant has grown to two teams this semester and will again be competing in the NECC. Rocket League will be participating in several leagues with two rosters including AVGL, ECAC, NACE, UGC and potentially CRL. FIFA, Madden and Rocket League have already posted their first week of competition in the ECAC.
FIFA
- Austin Pantaleo met up with Providence College for the first round of ECAC FIFA spring competition.
- Both teams played very patiently for the majority of the game until Providence found a goal in the 80th minute.
- King was unable to net the equalizer before time expired and trailed 1-0 in the best-of-three series.
- In game two the Tornado scored first but a relentless backdoor attack from Providence paved the way for four uncontested goals, giving Providence the 2-0 victory.
MADDEN
- Drayton Virgo is back in action after taking a semester off Madden competition.
- In his inaugural ECAC matchup he met up with Cumberland University.
- King took a two possession lead early and began protecting the ball and controlling the clock.
- Cumberland had very little field to work with as Virgo causes three turnovers and takes the first game.
- In game two King again took a two possession lead and began to slow the game down.
- The defense was very tough as Virgo forced two punts.
- Cumberland was able to score four safety points from a sack and an intentional grounding call deep in King territory.
- Luckily the commanding lead created by Virgo in the first half would enable him to kneel his way to the 21-18 victory to take the 2-0 win.
ROCKET LEAGUE
- In NACE play Matthew Bilbruck, Sam Calini and Rory Johnsen met Florida Tech and had an extremely competitive matchup.
- After dropping the first game and going down 2-1 King made a great recovery to take the series 3-2 with a commanding fifth game win.
- Rocket League also competed in the first East CRL qualifier of the semester and took third in their pool after struggling with Indiana in the upper and lower bracket.
- They need to win this Sunday to qualify for CRL league play.
- In ECAC play King played a live-streamed matchup against Kueka College to kick off the regular season.
- King outscored their opponent by over twenty points and took the series 3-0.
VALORANT
- King Valorant has been putting in some serious work since their first season last semester with the NECC.
- Over the break King added Thai Luong and Jarrett Joles to the Valorant roster to complete the "Valorant Scarlet" team.
- They are joined by returners Austin Mann, Andrew Ondrak and Andrew Wade.
- In their first four activation matches Valorant Scarlet was able to finish 4-0 which will subsequently place the team in the highest tier of competition with the NECC.
- Of these wins three were by more than four rounds and the first win was a complete reverse sweep to take the match 14-12.
- Also competing in the NECC we have the "Valorant Navy" team composed of Bilbruck, Pantaleo, Colby Simone, Virgo and Ethan Wine.
- They finished their activation matches 2-2 with mixed results but are working to find a lineup that will give them consistent success.
- The NECC will split up the Valorant pool into three divisions of skill and regular season competition will begin next week.
UP NEXT
- Sunday Rocket League will compete in the second and final CRL East qualifier at 12:00 p.m.
- Monday FIFA competes in the ECAC at 8:00 p.m., Rocket League competes in NACE play at 6:00 p.m. and both Valorant teams will compete in the NECC for their first round of official league play.
- Wednesday Rocket League will compete in the ECAC at 8:00 p.m. and Madden will compete at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday in the ECAC.
