Sangamon Sun

The Illinois College Esports team faced a setback in their recent match against Cornell College, losing 0-2 in the series. The competition, which took place on January 29, 2025, highlighted challenges for Illinois College as they struggled to maintain momentum after an initially promising start.

In the first map, Abyss, Illinois College began strong with a 4-1 lead. This early advantage prompted Cornell to call a timeout. However, following the break, Cornell dominated with a decisive 12-2 run that concluded the map at 6-13 in their favor.

The second map, Split, proved even more challenging for Illinois College. Lacking sufficient preparation on this particular map and unable to keep up with Cornell's aggressive play style, Illinois suffered another defeat with a score of 3-13.

Noah Horsman was notable for his performance during the match, leading his team with 33 kills and 12 assists while achieving a KDA of 1.73. Dwight Duijneveld also contributed significantly with 27 kills and eight assists. Other team members like Kieran Powers and JC Izaguirre-Gomez made valuable contributions with kills and defuses respectively. Ekko Nguyen managed key assists despite facing difficulties against Cornell's tactics.

Looking ahead, the Illinois College Valorant team aims to recover from this loss as they prepare to face Coe College on February 4th at 7:00 pm.