The second leg of week 8 featured a slew of great matches with playoffs on the horizon. With the intensity rising and teams fighting for their lives, fans were once again treated to more great CDL action.
First up was a Midwest battle between St. Clair College and the powerhouse Concord Maroon. St. Clair entered the day having won five of their last six matches, while the latter held an immaculate 42-0 map count to that point. St. Clair jumped out to a fast start, getting to the 100 point mark and holding a 50 point lead. However, the chemistry of Concord took over as they went on to dominate the rest of the way, taking it 250-181. St. Clair failed to take a single round in the Search and Destroy and the struggles continued into the Domination. Concord severely out-slayed their opponents thanks to Trauma and Paraylxis’ 69 combined kills. The series would end 3-0 in favour of Concord.
Another Midwest division tilt was next up. The battle for second place in the division would be Purdue University (14-1) taking on Illinois Orange (13-1). Azhir Cave Hardpoint was the map of choice for map one. A 37 kill effort from Sauce propelled Purdue to a 1-0 series lead after a mere 18 point win in map one. Misplays were the story of Arklov Peak S&D, however Illinois were eventually able to capitalize to take it 6-4. A late B flag capture by Purdue secured the victory by a tight 6 point margin St. Petrograd. The momentum continued into map 4 hardpoint, where BenG and his squad controlled the majority of the game to then take home the 3-1 series victory.
Arizona State (12-3) and Grand Canyon University (12-2) would slug it out for a chance for top 5 in the West division, in the final match of the night. ASU’s Effectini’s 38 kills lead the way in the map one win, although GCU responded with a controlling S&D win to not the series up at 1 a piece. A third straight Gun Runner was next up for map three. ASU secured a triple cap with just under 10 seconds left in the first half of domination. They held an 11 point lead to start the second half and never looked back with another great performance by Effectini. The pressure was on for GCU with their backs against the wall heading into Azhir Cave Hardpoint. The Sun Devils were dominated by the likes of GCU’s Fanatic, who had 20 kills at the midway point of the game. ASU clawed their way back from nearly an 80 point deficit, but GCU were able to hang on to win 250-214. The final map was incredibly back and forth, and in round 10 Prodigy of GCU was left all alone in a 1v3 and was able to find one, but it wasn’t enough as Arizona State University were able to clutch up and take the series 3 games to 2.
This week featured many great matchups and perhaps fans had the opportunity to see some potential playoff matchups as well. Stay tuned next week for even more exciting action with playoffs right around the corner!
