Arizona State University’s Rainbow Six: Seige D1 team won the CEA (Collegiate Esports Association) Fall League 2019 Invite Division Championship after their opponents, Penn State University, forfeit due to technical errors on Thursday.
With the win, ASU was awarded $1,200 and the crown of the best college Rainbow Six team for the fall season.
The CEA Invite comprised of America’s best college Rainbow Six teams. ASU finished second in their division, giving them a berth into the four-team playoff where they would face Rochester Institution of Technology.
RIT had not lost a single map going into the game against ASU. However, ASU would win two consecutive maps, beating RIT by a score of 2-0, securing their spot in the finals against PSU.
Brandon “Bud” Rocha, a first-year player on the ASU squad commented on the win, “It felt great to knock off RIT especially because ASU has had a history of losing to RIT so to come out and beat them 2-0 was awesome.”
After a hard-fought 7-5 victory for ASU on the first map of Consulate, PSU would win the second map 8-6 in overtime on Kafe. In between the second and third games, Penn State’s internet went down. After not being able to solve the issue in the 30 minutes CEA gave them, Penn State was forced to forfeit the match.
While the means may not be what the ASU squad desired, the victory is still just as sweet. Rocha spoke about the win, “It feels nice, wasn’t the most optimal win I’d say, but I have to give a lot of props to my team. It feels great especially because it’s my first year here and I was able to help my team secure their Championship.”
Rocha also spoke to how well the team played as a whole, “I feel like my team played well. We’ve been preparing a lot for playoffs this year, lots of vod review and strat practice. The difference-maker was definitely mindset and staying locked in as a team. We trust each other a lot and that built our chemistry over the season.”
The ASU squad plans to be in the Invite Division of CEA next semester as well, looking to defend their title.
