EUGENE, Ore. – This weekend will see the debut of NCU's latest Esports offering as the Rocket League season gets underway.
 
The second year of the Beacons Esports program has seen an intentional growth in offerings with both Rocket League and League of Legends joining Overwatch, which debuted last season. "I am really excited to see what this year has in store for us" said head coach Miles Adkisson. "A huge emphasis for our coaches and players is to continue to build our program. Adding additional games will do just that."
 
Rocket League combines soccer with driving and is described as "supersonic acrobatic rocket-powered battle-cars" according to their website. Two teams of three try to score goals in a domed arena. Matches in the Collegiate Rocket League (CRL) feature a Best-of-Five format for the five-minute games.
 
Divided into Western and Eastern Conferences, using the Mississippi River as a dividing line, the CRL begins on Sunday with the first of two potential qualifier tournaments. The top-16 teams from each conference will qualify for League play, competing in a round-robin schedule within their respecting conferences.
 
From League play, the top four teams earn a spot in the LAN (Local Area Network) Finals at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas on November 9.
 
For the 3-versus-3 format, NCU has recruited three players this season to compete on the inaugural team.
 
Preston Clark (Presto Magic) a freshman from Sheldon High School in Eugene, Oregon will be a crucial piece to the Rocket League team. Clark's first season of competitive Rocket League was season 5 in 2017 where he placed in Silver rank. Since then he has climbed to a peak rank of Champ 2 mainly focused as a defensive rotation based player.

[Rocket League Rankings Guide]

"Preston is exactly the type of player we hope to recruit to NCU", said Adkisson. "As a freshman he has come right in and shown great leadership as we work to establish Rocket League in our program. I am super excited to see Preston continue to grow over these next few years."
 
Kevin Kaelin (Kmkaelin96) a senior math major will walk-on for the Beacons. Kaelin has been a casual player since 2016. Playing competitively for only nine months, he has already moved up to a peak rank of Gold 3.  
 
Adkisson said, "I am so grateful that Kaelin was willing to join us this year and complete our rocket league team. That kid has so many talents and he is going to have a lot of fun this year because he is going to put a lot of those talents to good use through gaming."
 
Spencer Wellings (Khalestimo) a transfer from Austin Community College in Texas will be another player who will have an immediate impact in the arena. Wellings has a peak rank of Champ 3 and currently holds a rank of Champ 2. He started playing Rocket League back in 2015 on PS4 but has since played on Switch, Xbox and most recently PC.
 
"Spencer was a surprise addition to our team but has hit the ground running and is settling in nicely", said Adkisson. "I am thrilled to have Spencer as a Beacon and know that his skillset will fit nicely with our squad. The transition from one school to another is tough but Spencer hasn't skipped a beat."
 
The Beacons will kick off their CRL season this Sunday, September 15 at 9:00 AM PST. They will join 140 plus teams competing in Western Qualifier 1. If they do not remain alive into the Round of 16, they will come back for Western Qualifier 2 one week later. The bracket is still in formation and NCU's opponent will be revealed soon. All matches will be streamed live in the Beacons Esports Theater on the NCU campus and on Twitch.TV.