York win Collegiate StarLeague 2019 LAN finals
York University have won the 2018/2019 season of Collegiate StarLeague, defeating the University of California Santa Cruz 3-2 in the grand finals.
The LAN finals, playing out in Atlantic City, New Jersey, saw the top three teams from the online playoffs clash for the lion's share of a $30,000 prize pool. Those three teams and their rosters were:
Robert Morris University (SPERMY, Welshy, Reality, koga, Draggio)- University of California Santa Cruz (moopey, saiyo, yohann, shike, Demiwow)
York University (denya, Skelly, tennLs, kXn, Xephix)
Having secured the top seeds heading into the LAN finals, Robert Morris University were first up to bat as they went up against University of California Santa Cruz in the upper bracket finals yesterday. UCSC were the first to draw blood in their series, dominating on their own map pick of Dust2 with an 11-4 opening half before closing out the map 16-7.
UCSC seemed set to close the series out in quick fashion as RMU managed to secure just two of the first eleven rounds on their own map pick of Nuke, but Riley "Reality" Fusch helped his team to stabilize in the latter portions of the half to close the gap to 9-6. Following the side swap, RMU's CT defense proved superior as they turned the tables on UCSC, granting their opponents just two additional rounds as they closed out Nuke 16-11 to force the series on to Vertigo.
The deciding map was the closest of the series as the two teams traded strings of rounds, with UCSC narrowly pulling ahead 8-7 at the half. RMU quickly stole away that lead with a trio of rounds at the start of the second half, but UCSC battled back with a five-round streak of their own to regain control at 13-10. RMU evened the score as another three rounds went their way, but UCSC replied in kind with a trio of their own to earn the upset win, sending RMU down to the consolidation final with a 16-13 victory.
YorkRMU| York |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike 'Tennls' Meissner |
67 - 48 | +19 | 82.0 | 73.4% | 1.25 |
| Cameron 'Skelly' Thomson |
64 - 47 | +17 | 83.0 | 72.2% | 1.23 |
| Denis 'denya' Kosogov |
50 - 56 | -6 | 77.0 | 74.7% | 1.04 |
| Kevin 'kXn' Younessi |
51 - 58 | -7 | 73.2 | 75.9% | 0.96 |
| Kelvin 'Zephix' Chee |
47 - 59 | -12 | 67.2 | 64.6% | 0.87 |
| RMU |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riley 'Reality' Fusch |
59 - 53 | +6 | 81.4 | 83.5% | 1.19 |
| Andy 'Andersin' Collins |
64 - 59 | +5 | 88.8 | 67.1% | 1.17 |
| Andrew 'Draggio' Aggio |
59 - 57 | +2 | 83.1 | 69.6% | 1.10 |
| Liam 'Welshy' Newhouse |
49 - 58 | -9 | 71.3 | 64.6% | 0.97 |
| Jacob 'SPERMY' Younan |
37 - 52 | -15 | 49.4 | 63.3% | 0.75 |
Awaiting RMU in the consolidation final was the sole remaining Canadian team from York University, who made their way to the LAN finals as the third seed. This time around RMU were the ones who started the series on their map pick, initially taking a 3-0 lead on the T-side of Nuke to kick off the map. York were quick to fight back, winning four rounds before RMU were able to add another two to the board for a 5-4 scoreline in RMU's favor.
It was here that things began to look grim for RMU, with York mustering a ten-round streak to firmly steal away control of the map at 14-5. Although RMU took a trio of rounds, they were unable to forestall their execution in the first map as York closed out Nuke 16-8, moving the series on to their own pick of Overpass.
York continued their good form into the start of the second map, winning seven of the first ten rounds to take the lead on their CT-side. That momentum didn't hold for long however, and RMU swiftly replied back as they granted York just three additional rounds in the map as they worked their way to a 16-10 victory, forcing a decider map.
The third map of Inferno saw the most contention between the two sides, with RMU initially opening up their CT-side with a 5-0 lead. That lead quickly crumbled as York fought back, winning nine of the remaining ten rounds for a 9-6 scoreline at the half. Following the side swap, the two teams began trading sets of rounds, with neither of them managing to string together more than two rounds at the onset of the half.
RMU finally broke the trend as they won three rounds straight, but York already sat upon match point and one final round went the way of the Canadian team to close out the map, eliminating RMU from the competition and advancing York to the grand finals.
YorkRMU| York |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike 'Tennls' Meissner |
67 - 48 | +19 | 82.0 | 73.4% | 1.25 |
| Cameron 'Skelly' Thomson |
64 - 47 | +17 | 83.0 | 72.2% | 1.23 |
| Denis 'denya' Kosogov |
50 - 56 | -6 | 77.0 | 74.7% | 1.04 |
| Kevin 'kXn' Younessi |
51 - 58 | -7 | 73.2 | 75.9% | 0.96 |
| Kelvin 'Zephix' Chee |
47 - 59 | -12 | 67.2 | 64.6% | 0.87 |
| RMU |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riley 'Reality' Fusch |
59 - 53 | +6 | 81.4 | 83.5% | 1.19 |
| Andy 'Andersin' Collins |
64 - 59 | +5 | 88.8 | 67.1% | 1.17 |
| Andrew 'Draggio' Aggio |
59 - 57 | +2 | 83.1 | 69.6% | 1.10 |
| Liam 'Welshy' Newhouse |
49 - 58 | -9 | 71.3 | 64.6% | 0.97 |
| Jacob 'SPERMY' Younan |
37 - 52 | -15 | 49.4 | 63.3% | 0.75 |
Having advanced from the upper bracket, UCSC entered into the best-of-five grand final with a one-map advantage. York's pick of Inferno was up first, with Denis "denya" Kosogov helping to power his side to a 9-6 lead at the half. UCSC replied in kind as they won nine rounds of their own, forcing the map to overtime. York remained resilient however, and narrowly edged out a win on their own map pick 19-17 to tie up the series at 1-1.
UCSC were quick to respond on Train, mustering ten rounds on the T-side to keep York in check. The American squad were unrelenting as the second half got underway, granting York just two additional rounds before they closed out the map 16-7, leaving themselves just one map away from a series victory.
York were unwilling to give up that victory without a fight, and managed to one-up UCSC on Mirage by winning eleven T-side rounds in the first half for an 11-4 lead. UCSC attempted to fight back with a five-round streak of their own in the second half, but managed only one additional round once York got back on the board for a 16-10 scoreline for the Canadians.
From here, York remained firmly in control, crushing UCSC on the fifth and final map of Vertigo. A dominant 12-3 half on the CT-side left York just four rounds shy of a win, with UCSC managing a trio of rounds at the start of the second half before York attained match point with three rounds of their own. One additional round went the way of UCSC before York dealt the final blow, closing out the series 3-2 with a 16-7 win on Vertigo.
UCSCYork| UCSC |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arvid 'moopey' Samuelson |
84 - 84 | +0 | 86.0 | 62.0% | 1.06 |
| John 'yohan' Lee |
77 - 76 | +1 | 65.4 | 68.5% | 0.98 |
 Jiahe 'DemiWow' Wei |
64 - 80 | -16 | 74.1 | 67.6% | 0.89 |
| Paul 'saiyo' Saiyo |
70 - 86 | -16 | 71.7 | 63.9% | 0.86 |
| Stephen 'shike' Lau |
59 - 85 | -26 | 62.1 | 66.7% | 0.85 |
| York |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron 'Skelly' Thomson |
95 - 65 | +30 | 82.7 | 79.6% | 1.30 |
| Kevin 'kXn' Younessi |
88 - 70 | +18 | 90.7 | 74.1% | 1.27 |
| Denis 'denya' Kosogov |
87 - 70 | +17 | 80.7 | 77.8% | 1.25 |
| Mike 'Tennls' Meissner |
78 - 71 | +7 | 78.8 | 72.2% | 1.15 |
| Kelvin 'Zephix' Chee |
62 - 78 | -16 | 73.6 | 76.9% | 0.95 |
The final standings for the Collegiate StarLeague 2018/2019 season are:
1. York University - $10,000
2. University of California Santa Cruz - $6,000
3. Robert Morris University - $4,000
4. University of British Columbia - $2,000
5-6. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - $1,200
5-6. Viriginia Commonwealth University -$1,200
7-8. Michigan State University -$800
7-8. Simon Fraser University - $800
9-12. University of Texas - $600
9-12. Maryville University - $600
9-12. Ryerson University - $600
9-12. University of California San Diego - $600
13-16. Ohio State University - $400
13-16. University of Texas at Dallas - $400
13-16. University of Akron - $400
13-16. University of Houston - $400
