The PNW Overwatch team has made their way to the grand finals of the NECC Division IV National Championship after a strong double-header in the quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory against #4 Champlain College, and a 3-1 victory in the semifinals, taking down #1 University of South Carolina!
In the quarterfinals, Champlain stuck first on the first map of the series, Lijiang Tower, with strong counter-picks to the Pride's team composition. While the Pride fought valiantly in the first map, they fought back to take the second map of the series, Watchpoint: Gibraltar. The Pride led with a good defense, only conceding one point on the map after a strong hold on Champlain's attack. Once the sides had swapped, it was on all on the Pride to mount a strong attack and secure two points, getting them on the board. The momentum was carried into map three, New Junk City, after both teams pushed the map to all five points to crown the winner. In the end, the Pride were able to stagger out the opposing team's supports to take the victory. The fourth map, Midtown, was a dominant attack showing from the Pride, securing all three points with an extra minute and 33 seconds to spare. When the side swapped, Champlain was only able to secure two points on the map, with Pride Tank player Matt "Freewin" Clark preventing Champlain from getting back to the point to force overtime and secure the series win.
In the semifinals, PNW struck first on the first map, Lijiang Tower, with all three points needed to find a winner. The second map of the series was on Aatlis, where the Pride has a strong showing in the beginning of the map, but would fall just short to the University of South Carolina's strong team composition and counterplay. The Pride rallied back on the third map of the series, Watchpoint: Gibraltar. The Gamecocks would secure all three points on the map with only 7 seconds left on the clock, with the Pride also securing the maps three points, forcing additional rounds to be played. The Pride would secure an additional point in the additional rounds, securing the map for PNW. The fourth map of the series was Esperanca, where the Pride showed complete dominance throughout. The Gamecocks made a late rally in the final few minutes of the map, but fell just short. PNW's DPS player, Marcel "Niobe" Guth, secured the last Play of the Game of the series, with a solid teamfight win.
The Grand Finals will be a conference rematch against Tarleton State University, and will be played on Friday, May 8th, at 6pm CDT. The match will be streamed on the PNW Esports Twitch Page: https://www.twitch.tv/pnw_esports.
