AUTHOR: CHRIS "BEARLIGHT" LEE / @BEARLIGHTCASTS
In partnership with the Illinois High School Esports Association (IHSEA), the Stay Plugged In team paid a visit to Chicago, IL this past weekend to host a live recruiting showcase for over 100 students at Roosevelt University. Recruits interested in competing at the collegiate level in Rocket League, VALORANT, and Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate were allowed the opportunity to tour the Roosevelt University campus, speak to a number of different college esports representatives, and compete for a piece of the $900 prize pool.
The two day event featured some of the nation's best competitors in each title, looking to display their talent both in and out of the game in hopes of landing a roster spot, and for some, even a scholarship. College esports coaches and directors in attendance made the trip from all across North America to scout for talent. Traveling to recruiting events like the Roosevelt Campus Series LAN hosted by Stay Plugged In provides program representatives with some unique benefits that are unavailable in online recruiting.
"Being able to see behaviors and see how people respond builds that comfortability when you're talking to a potential recruit", said Luke Martin, Head Coach of Sage Esports of Albany, NY. "It lets them open up to you about more things that they are actually curious about when it comes to coming to your school, and then you can answer those questions and start to build that relationship earlier on."
Lemar Daniels, Director of Saint Xavier University Esports shared similar insight on the advantages of recruiting at the Stay Plugged In live event. He said, "I've being wanting to do this (as) someone who comes from traditional athletics, getting to be able to be in a combine and seeing people (compete) in person is honestly a really exciting experience, and it honestly makes my job a lot easier".
Check out the results from this past weekend and see some of the players from each title that stood out from the rest!
ROCKET LEAGUE
Two teams from Groups A & B entered the final bracket on Sunday with a record above the .500 mark. Brookfield Smiles (3-0) & Freelo (2-1) of Group A, and Leyden High School (3-0) and Team Ethereal (2-1) of Group B. As the Championship Sunday bracket pushed into the Semifinals, these were the final four teams remaining.
As anticipated, Leyden High School remained undefeated in a 3-0 series win to advance to the Finals. For Brookfield Smiles, it might have been the same, if it were not for Team Ethereal playing at a whole new level when the pressure was on. A 3-0 victory sent Team Ethereal into the Finals in a rematch against Leyden High.
Having dropped their group match to Leyden High School a day earlier by the count of 3-0, many other teams may have stumbled in with a mindset of defeat. Not Team Ethereal. They struck revenge on the biggest stage and defeated LHS 4-2 in the Best-of-7 Finals to earn the Roosevelt Campus Series LAN Championship in Rocket League!
ROCKET LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
TEAM ETHEREAL
VALORANT
Just as we saw in the Rocket League competition, there were two teams from each group repping a winning record walking into Sunday. For Group A, Team "LeaD" lead the way with a (4-0) record and a +47 round differential, the best numbers of any group. Dreamland VAL, a team of free agent players, also made a name for themselves in Group A at (3-1). Meanwhile in Group B it was Egoists (4-0) and "Teem" (3-1) on the right side of .500 at the end of gthe Group Stage. An honorable mention goes out to Deerfield High School as well with a (2-2) record and a respectable +5 round differential.
The bracket displayed exactly how much talent was present at the Roosevelt Campus Series LAN. #8 seed "Magic", who went (1-3) in the Group Stage challenged #1 seed LeaD in the first set of matches, but fell just short 13-11 in the final rounds. Then, it was "Teem" of Group B getting the best of the top seeded team in the Semifinals with a 13-4 victory. This set their crew up for the Finals, staring down a rematch effort against Egoists after their 13-6 loss to the #2 seeded team during the Group Stage.
Egoists shut them down quite early, taking the 13-3 win at Ascent, and there was not quite enough left in the tank for "Teem" at that point. An impressive 26-5 rounds won through the first two rounds of the bracket, however, they would fall to Egoists at Haven in the Best-of-3 Finals. Nothing to hang their heads over as a #4 seed, especially when Egoists (#2) were playing at the peak of their game. Congratulations to the Egoists for their Roosevelt Campus Series LAN Championship in VALORANT!
VALORANT CHAMPIONS
EGOISTS
YUMSTAH (Class of 2023) MVP
M2U5 (Class of 2024)
LEFTY (Class of 2025)
SHINYHERO (Class of 2024)
AYDEN (Class Unknown)
SUPER SMASH BROTHERS: ULTIMATE
Standing out in a massive group of 25+ players is tough to do in any esports title, yet for AYYOU that is exactly how it played out in the Group Stage on Saturday. The only player to fight through the gauntlet and secure a (5-0) record in matches played on the day is quite remarkable, and the #1 Seed is a great place to start in the final bracket. Four other competitors trailed 'ayyou' by one match at (4-1) to round out the top 5, including VON_STACHE, YUKI, VULPES and TJ all sitting above the +7 game differential mark as well.
The success for 'ayyou' goes even a little deeper than the undefeated match record. At this point in time, ayyou had only dropped one game in the five Best-of-5's played during the Group Stage. Then, again on Championship Sunday, ayyou remained red-hot and defeated every opponent through four rounds by sweep, including big wins in the Upper Semifinals against TJ (6-1), and the Upper Finals against Von_Stache (7-1). Those two had only dropped to ayyou up until that point, yet neither would recover from that recent loss and make it back up to the top side for the Grand Final either.
Instead, it was YUKI who made it to the big stage after defeating Von_Stache, the same opponent that sent Yuki to the lower side with a (3-0) defeat just a few matches prior. This was without a doubt a big moment for Yuki. That being said the opposition in the Grand Finals stood tall with a [26-1] record in games played over the course of the weekend. Yuki would need to conjure up 3 game wins TWICE, once to reset the bracket as the lower side opponent, and the second to take the title. A big shout out to Yuki for doing what no other opponent could do, winning two straight games to put the pressure on ayyou in the first set. It was ayyou that ended up fighting through the adversity though, winning three straight games to reverse sweep the first set and crowned the Roosevelt Campus Series LAN Championship in Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate!
SUPER SMASH BROTHERS: ULTIMATE TOP 3
AYYOU (Class of 2023) WINNER
ITSUKI (Class of 2023)
VON_STACHE (Class of 2025)
A huge thank you goes out to Roosevelt University Lakers Esports program for housing this amazing event, to our partners at the IHSEA for working with students to provide these type of opportunities, and to the players, parents, and college coaches that made this experience the best it can be. For more information on future Stay Plugged In events, you can visit the events page here.