Bruins LoL just one match from Regional Playoffs

BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The Bellevue University League of Legends eSports team defeated St. Louis College of Pharmacy by a 2-0 score in the RIOT College League of Legends Tournament this past Saturday.

Bellevue sees their record improve to 8-3-1 in competitive matches and 4-1 in RIOT College LoL play.

Match Lineup:

• Top Lane: Xu Xie "Sam" (abcabcabc)
• Jungle: Weirong Cai "Gavin" (IncredibleGom)
• Mid-Lane: Dylan Guidichessi (MercyLM)
• AD Carry: Gabriel Eckenroth (BU Tea Full)
• Bottom Lane: Chengyun Xue "Ray" (Raay)

Bellevue moved MercyLM back to his more familiar Mid-Lane role while giving IncredibleGom his first varsity action as Jungler and the move paid off as the Bruins swept St. Louis College of Pharmacy.

Bellevue 2, St. Louis Pharmacy 0

Game One: Bellevue def. St. Louis College of Pharmacy

Bellevue came out strong in game one, drafting a superior pick/ban list than their opposition. The team composition was better suited than in game's past to have a more balanced mix of early/mid/late-game damage and crowd control. Due to this BU was able to take objectives and pressure lanes easily throughout the game.

The Bruins scored first blood in the bottom lane with BU Tea Full snagging a double kill for a big lead over SLCP's AD Carry. BU continued through the laning phase with a steady tempo where they were able to farm up, itemize, and scale well.

Around the 15-minute mark there was a decisive fight in the top lane which Bellevue won allowing the Bruins to take the mid turret objective. From there the team was able to move around the map more freely to pressure additional objectives.

BU continued to push and secure mid turret objectives with SLCP unable to stop the Bellevue advance. As the Bruins pushed through the top lane, SLCP aced (killing the entire opposing team) BU and captured the baron. Bellevue, however, answered back with an ace of their own when SLCP's AD Carry was caught out of position, allowing BU to the opportunity to secure the inner base turret and inhibitor to spawn super minions down the mid-lane.

In the race between top lanes for top and mid turret, SLCP ended up over-extending which allowed Bellevue to secure the additional top turret and inhibitor. The final objectives to secure the bottom lane tower and inhibitor which Bellevue secure easily before securing the baron which had respawned. A final team fight broke out which BU aced and secure the game one victory.

Game Two: Bellevue def. St. Louis College of Pharmacy

Both teams drafted good compositions with Bellevue holding a slight edge when it came to engaging and disengaging. This was due to added crowd control of BU Tea Full.

In the early game SLCP struck first to secure first blood. Bellevue answered with a kill on their mid-laner but were countered by a teleport from the SLCP top laner who secured a kill of IncredibleGom.  Raay secured a kill on the SLCP support champion which allowed SLCP to push the objective, go back to base, and upgrade their items.

Raay continued to pressure their bottom out of lane and secured the first turret. He then rotated with abcabcabc to pressure the next objective. From there Bellevue secured the top outer turret for their second objective. St. Louis tried to respond by pushing back on the top turret but they were taken out in a team fight allowing BU to capture the rift herald. (Once slain, the rift herald can be captured and then respawned in a lane of that team's choice. The rift herald is an empowered monster which deals huge damage to turrets/structures.)

After securing the rift herald the Bruins pushed the middle turrets and secured the dragon. Moving through the mid-game Bellevue was able to reset and push out all three lanes. A team fight broke out in the top lane and SLCP came out ahead after killing four of BU's five players. They attempted to take the baron but were too weak to pull it off.

The Bruins respawned and pushed back into the top lane where they caught the St.  Louis support out of position and killed him. BU then started on the baron and, when SLCP tried to answer, the Bruins turned and took out four of their players. Following the team fight, Bellevue turned their focus back to the baron and captured it. BU based and pushed down the middle for the win. With defeat imminent SLCP forfeited as Bellevue secure their final turrets outside of the nexus.

Up Next:

Bellevue's next RIOT match will take place Saturday at 3 p.m. against Minnesota-Duluth with the winner advancing to the Regional Playoffs. The match will be streamed live on the Bellevue eSports Twitch Page.