ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College League of Legends team competed at the Hawkeye Invitational this past weekend, hosted by Hawkeye Community College. The Raiders finished in 3
rd place out of five competing teams on the weekend.
Opening day of the invitational saw round-robin seeding matches beginning with the Beavers of Buena Vista University. The Raiders started out hot with a dominant 2-0 win as freshman Midlaner
Austin Hendershot (Washington Boro, Penn./Penn Manor) put on a stand out performance of six kills, zero deaths, and two assists.
The final three matches of the round-robin all consisted of close losses where Northwestern just couldn't get over the hump falling to Columbia College (Mo.) 2-0 and Hawkeye Community College and Kirkwood Community College 1-0.
Jumping over to Saturday's single-elimination bracket play, the Raider League of Legends squad made similar adjustments as the Overwatch squad did, advancing to the semifinal round.
Northwestern opened up the quarterfinal round with a bounce back victory over Hawkeye Community College in a completely dominant 2-0 victory. In the second game of this best-of-three series, freshman Support player
Sonu Gupta (Birgunj, Nepal/National Infotech) and senior Jungler
Erik Vander Laan (George, Iowa/George-Little Rock) played perfect games with Gupta holding a kill participation of 22/26.
The Raiders ran out of steam in the semifinal against the Eagles of Kirkwood Community College falling in a close 2-0 match. The Raiders put on a stronger showing against the Eagles on Saturday than on Friday, but it wasn't quite enough to close the gap.
