CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College Rainbow 6: Siege team kept up their postseason success over the weekend with matches on Friday and Sunday in the quarterfinals and semis and the defending national champions didn't disappoint in their push for a second straight title in Tier 2.
The Golden Eagles swept away their opening match with State Technical College of Missouri on Friday night before winning 2-0 against Harrisburg Area Community College, only dropping three maps during the best of three with the Hawks to punch a ticket to the national championship on Friday night.
"They have made a statement that they are here to defend their national title and get another ring this year. They are showing why they are the best in the league this year and no one can stop them," Head Esports Coach John Kershaw said.
The Golden Eagles are undefeated on the season, entering the championship match at 9-0.
LCCC 2 State Tech 0 – (7-0, 7-0)
It was almost surgical the way the Golden Eagles were able to dominate State Tech on Friday in the quarterfinals of the NCJAAe Tier 2 postseason for Rainbow 6: Siege.
LCCC was led by a standout match from Justin Cherubin who finished with 17 kills on the first map on his way to 26 total kills.
"We were just looking to catch them off guard for the most part," Cherubin said. "It sets a tone to all of the other teams we are playing the letting them know they are going to have a tough time beating us."
The Golden Eagles as a team had 35 kills as a group on the way to the 7-0 sweep in the first game and the dominance was cemented by their lack of dying, with only 10 total deaths in the seven rounds.
Game two was more of the same. The Golden Eagles did have a more even kill spread, led still by Cherubin along with Kiara Kershaw, both with nine kills. Leondro Ebell tacked on another eight including a pair of rounds ending kills and the LCCC squad moved on to Sunday's semifinal with Harrisburg Area Community College in less than 45 minutes of map time.
"I think on that map we play more as a team, so it is balance throughout for the kill spread," Cherubin said. "It's a chemistry that is there. We play together and everyone gets more kills."
LCCC 2 Harrisburg Area 0 – (7-1, 7-2)
The semifinals started out in a much more contested affair with the Golden Eagles and the Hawks, but after taking a 2-0 lead, LCCC limited the HACC rally to just one round and finished the first round with a 7-1 cruise.
It was a bit of DeJa'Vu from the first battle in the postseason as Cherubin went off again, this time for 14 kills of which eleven came in the first four rounds.
The balance was back for LCCC in the second map and despite playing on the map picked by Harrisburg Area the Golden Eagles showed no signs of slowing down. As the attackers, the LCCC team built their lead to 4-2.
Switching to defense was all the Golden Eagles needed to close it out, taking down the Hawks in three straight rounds to win 7-2 and finish off the game.
Ebell was the dominant force in the second map, finishing with double digit kills and was joined by a strong second map from Chet Hall.
"I had good teammates all around protecting me, good callouts, good teamwork all around is what made me and the team successful. There is stuff we can work on as a team but that's what being on a team is all about," Hall said.
LCCC will be back on the sticks on Friday night at 5:30 pm when they face off against Marshalltown in the National Championship match. The match will be preceded by the LCCC Call of Duty: Warzone team going at it beginning at 4:00 pm.
All matches can be streamed on the LCCC Twitch feed at www.twitch.tv/lcccesports or you can find out more by visiting www.golccc.com.