It all comes down to this! The College of Staten Island Esports team has been unstoppable this season in the ECC Esports game of Valorant, but they have one more stop to make to land an ECC Championship, the first in CSI Athletics' history, as they will take on St. Joseph's College (LI) in a best-of-five showdown tonight in the Championship Final. The Dolphins come in at 9-0, while the Golden Eagles, at 6-3, will be looking to score the upset.
CSI VS. ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE (LI) AT-A-GLANCE
Matchup: College of Staten Island (9-0) vs. St. Joseph's College - LI (6-3)
Where: Online, PC Gaming
Time: 8:30 PM
Ticket/Broadcast Info: Free
Pregame Show:
CSI Athletics YouTube
Live Video: ECC NETWORK |
ESTV Twitch |
ESTV Facebook |
YouTube
All-Time Series: CSI leads 1-0
Last Meeting: October 26, 2020 - CSI won 2-0
About Valorant: Valorant is a relatively new first-person shooter where teams work in groups of five as either attackers or defenders in a series of rounds. Rounds are two minutes long and each round has a winner that scores a point. Points are scored by attacking teams if they eliminate the five defenders or they successfully plant a spike (bomb) in a specific location and it explodes by the time the round is over. Defending teams win the round's point if they eliminate all five attackers before the spike is planted or if they successfully diffuse or prevent the spike from exploding by the time the timer ends. The team that successfully scores 13 points wins 1 overall game (must win by two points), and in order to win an entire match in the playoffs, a team must win three out of five games. Players choose one of 12 agents to play with before a round begins each with their own specialties, and after each point in a round, players get to spend economy credits boosting their character in categories like weaponry and armor. Teams take turns being attackers and defenders 12 rounds at a time.
News & Notes: CSI could not have asked for a better season, as they finished the Regular Season, 8-0, and then rolled to a 3-0 win over Southern New Hampshire in the ECC Semifinals to gain the Final here tonight. CSI has only had one point scored upon them the entire season, and that was when SNHU posted a 13-8 win over them in the regular season. CSI would end up coming back in that one to win two straight rounds to win overall, 2-1. CSI won their Semifinal Round over the Penmen by scores of 13-8, 13-6, and 13-2, doing it on the maps of Icebox, Ascent, and Haven. St. Joseph's had a tougher Semifinal. They got past Farmingdale State but not without a host of drama. The Golden Eagles took the first two games in their match to grab a stranglehold on the match overall, but a tremendous comeback by Farmingdale saw them win two games in a row to make it 2-2 going into a deciding fifth game. After almost four hours of play, SJC was finally able to break away in their fifth map of Icebox, 13-9, taking the match overall, 3-2. These two teams met during the Regular Season back on October 26. CSI took a 2-0 win on that night, winning on the map of Bind, 13-6, and then on Ascent, 13-9. SJC-LI should come in confident, however, knowing they defeated a Farmingdale team that they also lost to during the regular season.
What's Next?: Tonight marks the official end of the season for both teams. The season will continue for Esports overall in the spring semester, when the ECC rolls out seasons in League of Legends and Rocket League. There is also a prospective spring season of Overwatch in the works, along with Valorant, yet to be determined.
PREGAME SHOW
