EUGENE, Ore. – The Bushnell Esports League of Legends team remains in the hunt postseason spot after securing their fourth straight win in NACE Starleague competition, while the Fortnite Duo clinched a spot in the Collegiate Championship with a second-place finish in the West Regional Qualifier.

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
League operates in a Swiss-style format, meaning opponents will be determined after each round of play with teams competing against another team with the same number of regular-season wins. Each match is a best-of-three games. At the end of the regular season, the top-eight teams from each conference will move on to the conference playoffs. The Beacons compete in the West Conference, which consists of 56 teams.

Bushnell 2, Western Washington 0
Bushnell secured its fourth consecutive victory on Tuesday evening to stay in the conversation for a top-eight spot in the West Conference. The Beacons continued with their starting lineup of Justin "Malstixy" Ault, Colton "sac de lait" Osten-Milbert, Drew "Zubdew" Lindley, Tyler "ShockMaster" Chase and Chad "RUBŸ" Vernon.

After round five, the Beacons sit in an eight-way tie for third place, meaning their sixth-round match is likely a must-win. With a six-game regular season, most teams that qualify for the postseason will have at least five wins. The remaining few spots will come down to a tiebreaker which is broken by (1) strength of schedule, (2) strength of opponent's schedule and (3) round-based weight of losses.  

The Beacons take on the University of California San Diego (4-1) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

ROCKET LEAGUE
The Rocket League regular season consists of nine rounds of conference play. All matches are a best-of-five games. There are 17 conferences separated by region, each consisting of 9 or 10 teams. The Beacons compete in the West 2 Conference. The top-three teams from each conference qualify for the postseason which begins with a Conference Play-In (2^nd vs 3^rd) followed by the Conference Championship (1^st vs Play-In Winner).

Colorado State 3, Bushnell 0 (5-0, 6-1, 3-0)
The Beacons drop to 0-5 on the season after falling to undefeated Colorado State on Friday. Preston "PrestoMagic" Clark, Lucas Fenton and Kyle "Fossphine" Foss made up the starting lineup. Clark led the team with one goal and six saves on the night.

Bushnell was on the defensive for much of the match. Clark got the Beacons on the scoreboard with a deep shot halfway through the second game but the Rams continued to show why they remain at the top of the standings, shutting out the Beacons in two of three games. Colorado State has not dropped a single game this season.

Up next, Bushnell takes on the University of Manitoba (3-2) on Monday, February 28 at 6 p.m.

FORTNITE
The Fortnite circuit consists of three Regional Opens for each region (East/West) followed by the Collegiate Championship for qualifying teams. The top four teams from each Regional Open, based on earned points, will receive direct bids to the Collegiate Championship on March 19. There will be an additional 24 bids assigned based on a team's collective points earned throughout all Regional Opens. In total, 48 teams will qualify for the Collegiate Championship, with 24 teams coming from the East Region and 24 teams coming from the West Region.

West Regional Open #1: Second Place
Christian "Pekzyyy" Velazquez and David Sollid competed in the West Regional Qualifier #1 on Sunday afternoon and took second to earn an automatic bid to the Collegiate Championship on March 19. The Beacons finished with a total of 91 points (77 placement, 14 eliminations). The top-four teams from the West Region advanced: Baker University (99), Bushnell University (91), University of Kansas (87) and University of Minnesota (69). The competition was not very close as the top-six teams made up a large majority of the eliminations (87.5%).

With a total of 13 teams participating in the regional and just four matches to work with, one low finish could drop a team's chances at qualifying significantly. However, the Beacons managed to finish no lower than fifth on the afternoon. Bushnell's placements were in the following order: first, fifth, fourth and first.

The Beacons came away with a Victory Royale in the first match of the afternoon along with four eliminations to pick up 29 points and an early lead in the regional qualifier. They dropped into third with a fifth-place finish in the second match and held that position with a fourth-place finish in the third match, picking up four more eliminations along the way. Bushnell concluded the competition with their best round yet, a Victory Royale and six eliminations in the finale to jump back into second place.

The West Regional Open #2 is scheduled for March 5^th. The Beacons do not need to participate in the remaining qualifying rounds but may decide to in order to practice against other collegiate teams in preparation for the championship.

Check the Bushnell Esports schedule here to stay up to date on any schedule changes. 

Follow twitch.tv/bushnellesports to get notified when each match begins.