Williamsburg, KY - The Patriots had another full slate this past week as they competed in four games. While the week did not begin the way Cumberlands wanted, they were able to end things on a high note in a sweep that helped them stay alive in conference Rocket League play.

Rocket League

The Patriots competed in two Rocket League matches on the week, splitting their two contests. The first came on Monday (Oct. 18) in NACE play when they were matched up with the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers with the second taking place on Friday (Oct. 22) against St. Thomas University.

The Patriots did not get the kind of results they were looking for against RIT as they ended up on the wrong side of a sweep, falling 6-1, 2-1, 3-0. UC found their bearings from one game to the next as they pushed the Tigers to the brink during game two, needing overtime to decide a winner. Game three's score was a little more lop-sided but the Patriots stuck around and seemed to be a goal away from storming back at any moment. Still, UC was unable to claim a victory in the best-of-five series as they fell in just three games.

Friday's match was the inverse of Cumberlands' first bout of the week as they dominated the Bobcats. This match served as the opening round of the MSC Rocket League playoffs with the Patriots putting people on notice that they would be no easy win. UC was 5-2 on the year coming into the match and showed just how they had gotten to that record.

It was an onslaught for UC as they outscored St. Thomas 28-2 over the course of three games. The Patriots could do no wrong on either side of the ball as they put together a dominant effort on their way to their biggest margin of victory on the season. Cumberlands was able to shatter their previous season-high in goals for a match with nearly 30 in this one while beating their season-high for a game of 10 with 14 in game number two of this contest.

"I'm excited to see how far we can go in the playoffs. I think this first round just shows how strong of a team we have. We're coming in as the two seed and feel like we could've been number one. We played like the top team today." - Assistant Coach Jacob Ball

As expected in a lop-sided win there some big individual performances. Ellis Courtland (Goldencourt9 ^-^) led the way for UC with 12 goals in the match to go along with seven assists with a composite game score of 2,613. Jackson Moore (oqya.) was not far behind Courtland in goals as he finished Friday night with 11 and six assists. Tanner Edelen (Txnr) was the facilitator in the three matches as he ended up with 10 assists. The Patriots will look to continue their run when playoffs resume and come to a conclusion next Friday (Oct. 29).

League of Legends

Cumberlands competed in two League of Legends matches on the week with a third being scheduled but resulting in a forfeit. Their first contest came in MSC play against Shawnee State on Monday, October 18th, resulting in a loss. The team's second bout was a non-conference duel with Emory University on Tuesday which also led to a defeat. Despite both matches ending with UC on the wrong end of things, the Patriots can feel good about the progress they have made this year. The team has been able to hang around with their opponents more and more as time has gone on and that proved to be the case once again this week.

Against the Bears, UC held their ground through the first 20 minutes of the match. The two teams played each other even as it was a toss up who would take this one. Unfortunately for Cumberlands, SSU went on a run to turn the tide in their favor as Shawnee State began to push in on their opponent's nexus. 

The Patriots saw more of the same against Emory as they held in there for as long as they could, but could not quite get things done. UC did manage to take game two of the best-of-three match but that was all they could muster. Cumberlands gave the Eagles all they could handle through the first 15 minutes of action during games one and three but Emory found a way to regroup and mount a run to help them stave off defeat. 

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