On Sunday, North Central Missouri College Esports Overwatch faced the University of Alabama in Huntsville and lost 1-2. Match 1 was played on Busan while match 2 was played on Numbani; the Pirates forced also forced match 3 on Route 66.
In the matchup against Huntsville, the Pirates lost the first control map but brought it back on Numbani, forcing a third round on Route 66. History repeated itself when NCMC lost out in overtime, failing to push the payload the full distance.
NCMC rebounded to get a win in their second match up the day. The Pirates defeated the University of Auburn, a new opponent, 2-1. Auburn took the first match on Busan. Similar to the Huntsville matchup, NCMC played match 2 on Numbani and executed a full hold on the first point. Taking the contest to a third round on Route 66, the Pirates used the maps design to their advantage, allowing them to contest the payload from advancing past the first point.
This game has shown the Pirates that their control maps need serious work to be as strong as their Hybrid/Escort map. Therefore, this week the Pirates plan to practice control type maps primarily.
"We faced another nail biting loss to Huntsville this season. The game ended the exact same way it did when we faced them two weeks ago. We forced a game three in the matchup and it came down to the wire in the same spot on the map of route 66. It was hard to deal with overall but my team is staying strong and moving forward to this week's matches on Sunday. We took care of business when it came time to face Auburn. It took three games in the matchup to do it but we ended up steam rolling them in game two and three. We are 8-13 on the season as an Esports team overall this season and we've accomplished so much and have defeated so many big name schools. I'm proud of the guys and they should be too; we're not done yet and still have some work to do," commented Head Coach Chris Flowers.