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UCLA Overwatch looks to rebound after loss to SJSU

Sunny Yen
Jul 13, 2017
2 min read

EDIT: Brad "raxa" Jiang will be replaced by Justin "Justin" Ching in the match against UCR on Saturday due to personal conflicts.

EDIT 2: Jordan "DemFiends" Roessle will be replaced by Daphne "daphdawg" Jin will in the match against UCR on Saturday due to scheduling conflicts.

It wasn’t an easy pill to swallow for the Bruins on Sunday afternoon.

San Jose State’s Armadyl sliced through their team effortlessly, SJSU Ruhvenge blinked circles around them, UCLA failed to execute a single dive while SJSU dove them over and over with lethal precision.

This Saturday will be different.

“The loss didn’t really settle with us well,” says Leon “Pikachief” Chang, flex player for UCLA Premiere and a recent UCLA graduate. “We kind of came together as a team and conceded that we didn’t come prepared”.

“We definitely should have practiced”, echoed Harsha “Harsha” Bandi, captain of the Overwatch Premiere team. “We were definitely not prepared as well as we could have been”.

Despite the loss, the team is hungry to earn a win and are looking to show up to play against their next opponent. That means they have had to adjust their strategies, especially after losing starter Ryan "CAPTA1N" McNicol. They will look to return to the win column Saturday, July 15th as they face off against the last place team in their group: Team Cinnamon from the University of California, Riverside.

“I do believe we will come back stronger” stated Chang.

With 7 more series remaining on the docket, UCLA finds itself tied for 2nd in their group of 5 with a 1-1 record. With powerhouse Overwatch teams UCI, U of Texas, and now the revamped and deadly roster from SJSU in a group where only the top 4 teams advance to playoffs, the game against UCR holds potential tiebreaker implications.

“The thing is, [Overwatch] is only really a strategy game and an ultimate usage game if the playing fields are relatively equal” states Brad “raxa” Jiang. “At the moment, I think we will be raw out skilled sometimes. We will be working to shore up our mechanical skill in practice as well as strategize against teams.”

When asked about what kind of strategies they had prepared for their upcoming match, raxa offered a simple answer: “me McCree, me hold left. Mercy hold left at me.”

“We will try to press Q at the same time and at the right times” offered Sehee “Kabosui” Jeong.

Harsha provided a more serious answer: “We plan to go back to the basics and focus on fundamentally sound play.”

UCLA Overwatch Premiere returns to action on Saturday, July 15th at 12 PM against Team Cinnamon from the University of California, Riverside. The game will be streamed live on the Esports at UCLA Facebook page. For a full schedule of games, click here.