Rocket League and Marvel Rivals boast strong defense across a loss and a victory 

By Balen Allain 

On Tuesday night, Cedarville’s Rocket League and Marvel Rivals teams faced defeat and victory. The Rocket League team lost 3-0 to Ohio Wesleyan University in a close defensive game amid an unfortunate disconnect, and Rivals won 3-0 against Old Dominion University in an easy sweep, showcasing their improvements from last semester. 

Liam Belte, assistant esports coach for the Rocket League team, was looking forward to seeing the team play. 

“We’ve been working to fix mistakes we made in week one, and we suffered a hard loss,” he said. 

They lost in week two as well, but Belte noticed significant improvement in maintaining a strong balance between offense and defense. He encouraged the team to stay calm before the game began. 

The road quickly became rocky. Player Cole “Eloc” Kaiser’s game crashed, and official Rocket League rules dictate that games cannot be stopped for crashes and disconnects – Liam “He Lium” Herschberger and Gavin “Mindset” Sand had to play without him. 

A Rocket League game is best of five, where the team with the most points when time runs out in each round scores a point. Ohio Wesleyan pushed their advantage in the first round and got a point. 

Cedarville opened the second and third rounds strong, but Ohio Wesleyan gained the upper hand. In the third round, with nine seconds on the clock, Cedarville clutched an impressive tie at 3-3, forcing the match into overtime. Unfortunately, Ohio Wesleyan scored the match point and beat Cedarville 3-0. 

“We had good defensive plays at first, but I think that fell off,” Sand said. 

He’s looking to improve his consistency for the next game. 

“It’s disappointing, right? You never want to lose,” Belte said. “Compared to last season, when we played them, we looked better. I always tell these guys, much like the walk of Christ, we want to model that in everything we do. We are going to stumble forward.” 

The Rocket League players logged off, and Marvel Rivals took their seats, practicing for the 8 o’clock game. 

Logan “log_hoffman” Hoffman was looking forward to the game. 

“Allegedly, they’re not… elite on tank,” he said, pointing out a few of their favorite characters to play. “We’re used to playing against [these characters]. I think we’re more flexible than them, and it will come down to flexibility today.” 

“We’re feeling pretty good,” Logan “H3RSCH” Herschberger said. “We played really well last semester, and we’re confident that we’ve gotten better.” 

Herschberger was hoping to keep his reaction time sharp, especially in make-or-break moments. 

“I have a relatively slow reaction time for an esports player,” he said. “I have to push as hard as I can.” 

Since last semester, the developers of Marvel Rivals have released new characters and updates to the game, changing the game enough to keep the players on their toes. 

“They had a patch on Thursday,” Hoffman said. “The new character they released was not developed well, and they’re balancing out the [DPS characters].” 

Once the game started, Cedarville quickly rose to the lead. In the opening Dominion map, they claimed both zones with ease. In Convergence, they didn’t allow Old Dominion even a tenth of a percent of progress – and that was after a close call, where their defensive line broke; the team had to perform excellently to stave off the enemy. 

In the last map, Convoy, Cedarville outplayed Old Dominion and brought the escort farther, winning 3-0. 

Throughout the game, the players robustly and noticeably communicated with each other, marking an improvement in their communication from last semester. 

“It was weird because they subbed out the person who was giving us the most trouble after the first game, and his missing presence was very notable,” Hoffman said. “Their damage players were struggling to get any traction.” 

Cedarville Esports streams every Tuesday at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. and every Thursday at 7 p.m. on YouTube and Twitch, at Cedarville Esports Team. Old streams are viewable as VODs. 

Balen Allain is a junior Broadcasting, Digital Media and Journalism major focusing on Audio and Journalism. He enjoys gaming, writing fiction, and making music, and is working on a book.