MARION, Ind. -Both the Valorant and Rocket League teams had NECC Conference Semifinals matches this week.

#1 seeded Valorant kicked things off against #4 Wright State University on Monday. The Wildcats made a bold choice during map selection to play on Abyss for map #1, the first time they had played Abyss all season. It proved to be a successful choice as well, with the Wildcats winning the map 13-7 after a big early lead.

However, Wright would not go down without a fight though. On their map pick, Sunset, both teams went back and forth to a 6-6 draw at halftime. Despite having two match points at 12-10, the Wildcats couldn't stop the WSU push and the game headed to overtime. After taking their attacking half in overtime, it was Nick "oziie" Everett who would open round 26 with a double kill that the Wildcats would never let go of. They won 14-12 and 2-0 in the series.

The East Conference Championship game will be an interesting one, as #6 Charleston Southern continued their cinderella run by defeating #2 Eastern in the other semifinal. That Championship match will take place at 7pm EST on Monday, December 1^st due to the league's scheduled Thanksgiving break the week of November 24th.

For #2 Rocket League, they too had a tough semifinal match against #3 Wayne State. Wayne came to play in game 1, hitting a huge 5-2 win and starting off with the momentum. But it was the wildcats in games 2 and 3 that shifted things in their favor. They slowly built momentum with a huge 4-3 comeback in game 2 adn a strong 3-1 win in game 3. Then, Wayne state had a strong game 4, winning 0-3 and forcing a best of 3 to finish the match. In game 5, the game was tied 2-2 with 25 seconds left before a Rocket League server crash caused the game to end abruptly. 

The League ruled that since the game was tied, the teams would have to restart the game from the beginning. This worked in the Wildcats' favor as they not only scored the next goal, but won the game 4-2. In Game 6, the same thing happened, this time as the game was tied 0-0 with about 3 minutes left, so the teams reset the game again. And, this time, it was Wayne State who would take it 4-2 and force a game 7. In the second game 7 of the season for the Wildcats, all hope seemed lost as IWU went down 1-2 under 30 seconds left. However, Harrison "Farriex" Gilbert extended the game after a dime pass from teammate Jeb "Drybbles" Byrd and forced overtime.

However, the excitement was short lived, as Wayne State would score only 7 seconds into overtime and the Wildcats would lose only their second game all season. The Mideast Conference does have a third place game that the Wildcats will compete in on Wednesday, December 3^rd at 8pm EST. They will face off against Mideast B opponent and #8 seeded Carthage, who the Wildcats defeated 4-0 earlier in the season.

As always, you can always watch the action at twitch.tv/IWU_Esports

Standout Wildcats

• Nick "oziee" Everett has had a fantastic first season for the Wildcats this year. His 31-21-5 KDA on Sunset included the Double Elimination that brought the Wildcats the final round on Sunset.
• Jed "Drybbles" Byrd put the team on his back in the loss to Wayne State. He led the Wildcats with 8 goals and also had 4 assists

Upcoming week

• No matches next week as the NECC will break for Thanksgiving

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