AU CS:GO eSports team clinches spot in conference championship
With a 2-1 win over St. Clair, the Eagles look to take on Rochester Institute of Technology with the season on the line
CS:GO team member Seth Ho leads the team in his final collegiate year.
April 2, 2023
The Ashland University CS:GO eSports team pulled off a 2-1 win against the Saint Clair Saints to secure a spot in the NACE Starleague Conference Championship game.
The Eagles, who secured a spot in the NACE postseason, were looking to move onto the national tournament with a win in the semi-final round.
In a three-game series, either squad would need to win two, to pull off the contest victory.
The game started with the first map being Overpass, where the Eagles showcased some slight struggles. St. Clair held a 10-5 round lead, and heading into the second half of the game the team needed to bounce back.
Unfortunately, the Eagles were unable to adjust to the early tactics displayed by St. Clair, falling 16-8 in the end.
“Going into the next game, we really have to sharpen up our Overpass, we worked on it this week but it didn’t end up happening the way we wanted it to,” said team member Seth Ho, reflecting on the opening loss.
The next map was Vertigo, but if the Eagles wanted to force a third map, they would need to bounce back and pull off a win on this one.
The Eagles seemed much more comfortable playing on Vertigo, and ended up with a 16-13 nail-biting victory, forcing a third and final map.
Now with the score of the series being tied at one, the entire game came down to the last map. Fortunately for the Eagles, the map named was Mirage, which is the team’s strongest map of the season.
The first half of the final map started close, with Ashland leading 8-7 at the break. Heading into the second half, St. Clair was not going to go down without a fight.
With the two sides battling back and forth, the contest came down to a two-score differential. In the end, the Eagles pulled off a 16-14 win.
“We went from 2-5 last semester to now competing for a conference championship, this team has been through a lot, what a story,” said Ho.
The team looks to face Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), a school in which Ashland has encountered before that has produced many close games.
“I’m super excited to see them in the conference finals going against RIT where we won earlier in the season so it’s going to be a very exciting matchup,” Eagle Head Coach Alec Mueller.