LAST WEEK IN PEACOCK ESPORTS... The Upper Iowa University Esports team participated in six contests in three different games over the past week from Mar. 1 to 4. The team opened their week with NACE Fortnite and ECAC Rocket matches, securing a top 30 finish in Fortnite and an exciting 3-2 win in Rocket League. UIU had some mid-week struggles with a 3-1 loss in their NECC Rocket League matchup followed by a 2-0 defeat in NECC Valorant, but bounced back in a major way to close out the week. The Peacocks secured a 2-0 victory in an NECC Overwatch match that was streamed on the conference Twitch channel to remain undefeated. UIU kept up their winning ways with their second exciting 3-2 Rocket League win of the week in an NECC Rocket League match that was moved up on schedule.
ECAC ROCKET LEAGUE... Upper Iowa was bringing a 1-3 record into their ECAC Rocket League matchup against the 0-4 Team Silver of Bellarmine University, and both teams were hungry for a victory. The Knights took the opening game in their best-of-five match in a high scoring 5-3 win to put the Peacocks in an early hole. Upper Iowa answered in a big way to tie the match at 1-1 with a dominant 6-0 victory in game number two as
Brady Krupa shot a perfect 5 for 5 to power the Peacock offense while their defense did not allow a single shot on goal. UIU kept their momentum with a 5-3 win in the third game to go up 2-1 in the match and come within one game of claiming the match victory. Bellarmine staved off elimination with a 2-1 win in the fourth game to knot the score at two points apiece and set up a winner-take-all game number five. The Peacocks hit an early shot from distance to give them a 1-0 lead in the final game, but the Knights battled back and tied the game a 1-1 with a goal with only 1:13 left in the contest. The teams did not allow anything the rest of the way as the matchup went to a sudden-death overtime period to decide the match. Upper Iowa scored the game-winning golden goal in just 0:24 of overtime to win the game 2-1 and claim the match by a score of 3-2.
UIU Match Stats:
Goals/Shots: Sean Odegard: 9/22 (.409),
Brady Krupa: 6/19 (.315),
Trace Woodward: 2/6 (.333)
Assists: Brady Krupa: 6,
Trace Woodward: 3,
Sean Odegard: 3
Saves: Trace Woodward: 4,
Sean Odegard: 2,
Brady Krupa: 4
NACE FORTNITE... The Peacocks finished in the top 30 for the second week in a row in their Fortnite games. The UIU duo finished 29th in round one with one elimination and finished 29th in the second round without any eliminations.
NECC ROCKET LEAGUE... UIU brought a 1-1 record in NECC Rocket League competition into their match against Fresno State University's Team Maroon, but fell in their
best-of-five match by a score of 3-1. The Bulldogs won 3-2 in the opening game to take an early 1-0 lead in the match, and they kept the pressure on with a 3-1 win in game two to put themselves just one point away from claiming the match. The Peacocks came out strong with their backs against the wall to take an early 1-0 lead in the third game before forcing a game four thanks to a 3-1 win to cut their match deficit to 2-1. UIU took another early 1-0 lead in game four as they worked to come back in the match, but FSU took control with two straight goals to take the lead late. Upper Iowa scored late to tie the game at 2-2 and send the game to overtime as they looked to force a game five. The Bulldogs hit a long shot in overtime to take the sudden-death win after 0:58 of extra time, securing a 3-1 win over the Peacocks in the match.
UIU Match Stats:
Goals/Shots: Brady Krupa: 4/11 (.363),
Sean Odegard: 3/11 (.272),
Trace Woodward: 1/8 (.125)
Assists: Sean Odegard: 2,
Brady Krupa: 2,
Trace Woodward: 0
Saves: Trace Woodward: 6,
Sean Odegard: 4,
Brady Krupa: 0
NECC VALORANT... Upper Iowa fell in their NECC Valorant matchup against Marymount California University's team #1 by a score of 2-0. The Peacocks were unable to get anything going in consecutive 13-0 defeats in each of the opening rounds.
NECC OVERWATCH... The Peacocks looked to stay undefeated as their 3-0 record was on the line against the 2-1 Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College. Upper Iowa put on a dominant showing as they won both of the opening maps with ease to secure a 2-0 win in the match. UIU won two straight rounds in the best-of-three opening map and followed it up by locking down Randolph-Macon with a flawless hold in the first round of map two before claiming the second round to secure the sweep in the match. The Peacocks and Yellow Jackets played out the third map for potential end-of-season tiebreaker purposes, and RMC was able to secure the victory in the third map.
Match Highlights:
Map 1 - Oasis (Control Point): Upper Iowa came out strong and won the opening round 100%-59% as they looked to be in control early. The strong start powered the Peacocks to a 1-0 lead after one round, and their momentum heading into round two continued as they swatted the Yellow Jackets with a 100%-0% win. UIU implemented some strategies that RMC was unable to counter, and the Peacocks looked impressive en route to a 2-0 win in the opening map and a 1-0 lead in the match.
Player Stats: Brady Jahr recorded the 'play of the game' to highlight the Peacock performance and notched 24 eliminations.
Nick Finder supported his team by contributing 7,900 points of healing.
Map 2 - Eichenwalde (Hybrid): The Peacock defense put the clamps on Randolph-Macon as they secured a flawless hold in the opening round. UIU did not give up anything as RMC was unable to even get past their starting point, and the Peacocks showed why they have yet to lose a match in Overwatch as they continued their dominant performance. Following the flawless hold, the UIU offense only had to take one tic off the assault point to end the round and secure the 2-0 sweep in the match.
Player Stats: Trace Woodward provided the 'play of the game' with a quad-kill as he quickly dispatched four opponents in rapid succession.
Brady Jahr put up 24 eliminations again as he repeatedly took out enemy players.
Nick Finder continued to keep his squad standing by dishing out 9,400 points of healing.
Xander Cortimilia rained down 7 barrage kills as he powered the Peacock aerial attack.
Map 3 - Route 66 (Escort): The result of the third map would not change the 2-0 victory that Upper Iowa claimed over Randolph-Macon, but the teams played it out as it could count for tiebreaker scenarios at the end of the season. The Peacocks pushed their payload 81.35 meters as they opened the map on offense, but the Yellow Jackets managed to take the win as they moved their payload 82 meters to end the game.
NECC ROCKET LEAGUE... The Peacocks played a second NECC Rocket League match this week after rescheduling a game that was originally scheduled to be played the following week against Concordia University-Nebraska. The Bulldogs took a quick 1-0 lead just 20 seconds into the first game before doubling their lead with another goal at the 1:47 mark. The Peacocks answered with a goal of their own just 14 seconds later to cut their deficit to 2-1, but the Bulldogs scored twice in under a minute to build push their lead up to 4-1. UIU scored in just seven seconds to give them a chance at the comeback, but Concordia-Nebraska secured the 4-2 win in the game and a 1-0 lead in the
best-of-five match. The Peacocks tied the match at 1-1 after a 3-1 win in the second game thanks to three goals on five shots from
Sean Odegard. Upper Iowa took a 2-1 lead on a goal that came with 0:46 left on the clock in game three, but Concordia scored twice in the final 30 seconds and won the game 3-2 on a buzzer-beating shot to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Peacocks were nursing a 1-0 lead in the fourth game as they looked to force a winner-take-all game number five, but the Bulldogs continued their trend of late-game scores with a game-tying goal with just 15 seconds on the clock. The teams played 2:34 of extra time before
Brady Krupa knocked in the game-winning golden goal to stave off elimination for UIU and force a fifth game in the match. Concordia-Nebraska grabbed an early 1-0 lead after just 36 seconds of play in the deciding game, but Upper Iowa tied the game at 1-1 with a goal just nine seconds later. The Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead at the 1:10 mark, but the Peacocks stayed alive with a game-tying goal from Krupa with 0:49 left in the game.
Trace Woodward put in a go-ahead goal for Upper Iowa with 19 seconds left in the fifth and final game, and Odegard pushed the UIU lead to 4-2 with another goal just five seconds later. Concordia still had a chance after cutting their deficit to 4-3 at the 0:05 mark in the game, but the Peacocks held on to win the game and claim the 3-2 victory in the match.
UIU Match Stats:
Goals/Shots: Brady Krupa: 7/15 (.500),
Trace Woodward: 2/5 (.400),
Sean Odegard: 3/16 (.188)
Assists: Sean Odegard: 5,
Trace Woodward: 2,
Brady Krupa: 0
Saves: Trace Woodward: 6,
Brady Krupa: 6,
Sean Odegard: 5
UP NEXT... The Peacocks are scheduled to play five games this week, starting with ECAC Rocket League NACE Fortnite on Mar. 8. The team will compete in NECC Valorant on Mar. 10 before looking to stay undefeated in NECC Overwatch competition on Mar. 11. UIU wraps up the week with CLoL League of Legends on Mar. 13 after a week off. Live streams of the Peacock action can be found on
Twitch.tv/Peacock_Esports.
