CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College Overwatch 2 team opened postseason play against #7 Missouri State University – West Plains on Saturday afternoon and after a valiant effort saw their season end in a 3-0 loss.
"We fought a close fight," Head Coach Cindy Benites said afterwords. "Of course, it's a tough loss for us but they held strong."
The opening round of control started off tough with the Grizzlies earning the opening round win after focusing their attacks on the Golden Eagles one by one to weaken them early and pick up the control point for a clean sweep of 100 percent to zero.
The second round of the map MSU West Plains made a quick rush to the point and was able to set up a solid defensive wall to keep LCCC out of the area to build up to 99 percent before the Golden Eagles got into the point to gain some momentum but after closing it to 99-36, the Grizzlies earned the final point to take the round 2-0 and get the early edge in the match.
Moving on to Hybrid, the Golden Eagles looked to even the match but the Grizzlies picked up the first control point with nearly six minutes to move on to number two. The push continued by MSU West Plains and they reached not only the second control point, but moved on to the final one with plenty of time to spare leaving the LCCC attack the mountain of a clean round and winning with 4:42 remaining to match.
The attack for Laramie County picked up the payload with just over three and a half minutes to move forward and get back into the round and they made solid progress towards Point B but as the area of the map narrowed, the aggressive defense from West Plains slowed the Golden Eagles down leaving them three minutes to move to the final point. The attack bogged down in the final minute and LCCC finished just 10 meters shy of finishing their assault to fall down 2-0 in the match.
The bounce back to make it close at the end was big for confidence and Benites said it showed the mentality the team took into the match.
"That's just a testament to the players that they are. They are able to accommodate each situation and go from there and not let tough losses at the beginning deter them from wanting to do better."
The match moved to Escort and the Grizzlies opened with the payload, pushing to the first checkpoint with 4:40 left to get to the second point. The Golden Eagles slowed the attack slightly on the way to the second check point but MSU West Plains still had over 4 minutes to advance to the end of the route and they would finish the run with 1:42 remaining.
As the Golden Eagles moved to the offensive, they took advantage of their own push to make it to the first check point with plenty of time to spare after figuring out the strategy of the Grizzlies. MSU West Plains took a different approach on the way to the second check point and LCCC would get caught several meters short of the second point and the match went to the Grizzlies in a 3-0 sweep.
The loss ends the LCCC season but there was plenty to be proud of. The team qualified for the playoffs for the second straight semester despite multiple roster changes through the year and had their best finish record wise in school history going 4-3 in the regular season.
"They put their heart out into each competition that they are in," Benites praised. "I'm just proud of all of them and what they accomplished this season. We ended up losing in the first round but we should have another run next semester."