Sangamon Sun

The Illinois College Esports team secured a third-place finish at the 2024 Midwest Esports Conference in Rocket League. The event, held over two days, featured nine teams competing for top honors. Illinois College's team, composed of Glenn Conway, Dwight Duijneveld, and Josh Hallanger, faced Cornell College in a five-game series that concluded with a dramatic victory.

In the first game, Illinois College won 1-0 by employing a slow and methodical strategy focused on defense. The second game saw them shift to a faster pace, resulting in a narrow 2-1 win due to two own goals from Cornell.

However, the third game did not go as planned for Illinois College. Their continued fast-paced approach backfired, leading to a 3-0 loss with Flux from Cornell scoring all three goals. In the fourth game, Illinois College returned to their initial strategy but was unable to stop Flux, who scored twice for Cornell's 2-0 win.

The decisive fifth game was tense as Cornell initially outshot Illinois College. However, Conway, Duijneveld, and Hallanger each scored once to give their team a 3-1 lead with only ten seconds remaining. Despite a late goal from Cornell reducing the deficit to one point and an opportunity arising from an Illinois College kickoff error, Cornell's final shot hit the crossbar and sealed the victory for Illinois College.

For those interested in viewing the end of this exciting match-up can visit: https://clips.twitch.tv/OnerousObliqueChickpeaWholeWheat-3BwYFW8otnZp2D7h

Looking ahead, the IC Esports Rocket League team is set to compete against Miami University of Ohio on Wednesday, February 14 at Meraki Gaming Center.