Concluding their inaugural season, the Doane eSports Rocket League team finished their postseason run as the national runner-up in the National Esports Collegiate Conference, losing to Ithaca College 2-4 on May 3.
For many teams, their inaugural season is often filled with challenges. There is a new coach, new training and a lack of chemistry or trust between athletes and competition can be daunting. However, Doane’s Rocket League team is not one of those teams as the team found success almost immediately.
Senior Garrett Scheet, junior Braden Lackey and sophomore Winston Sears composed the national qualifying team and were all together on the Doane Men’s Soccer team. The three already had chemistry built up from competing on the pitch so translating it to Rocket League wasn’t a challenge.
“I think our chemistry is probably the biggest part of our game. We have all known each other and played soccer here for at least two years, so just the friendship aspect made things really fun all the time,” Sears said. “In addition to my teammates being really good at Rocket League, I think just having that sixth sense of knowing where we all are on the field at any time just lets us be successful.”
Doane’s Rocket League team used that established chemistry and connection to dominate the regular season with a perfect record of 7-0 and a top spot in the Midwest B region. Doane won the region and secured a bid into the national tournament, which they rode all the way to a national championship match and national runner-up. Despite this being their first season, the team knew that they could compete nationally and make a run for the national championship.
“Garrett was asking about playoffs after our first week of matches, so I think he always knew we were good enough, and that just gave me the confidence and motivation to know that if we didn’t make nationals, we would be falling short of our potential,” Sears said. “In terms of being a first-year program I felt no pressure from that. There was a lot of talk and surprise because it was our first year and we kind of came out of nowhere, but we all knew that we were the best team. It didn’t matter that it was our first season, we knew we were the better team and that we should win these matchups, which was the case.”
The Doane Rocket League team looks to continue the success they had last season and repeat as region champions as well as make another run at the national championship. The schedule for Doane Esports has not been posted yet, but it will be posted at https://www. doaneathletics.com/ sports/esports/2023-24/ schedule.
