UAF esports to face Jamestown for Rocket League conference title

The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ varsity esports Rocket League team will face University of Jamestown today in a battle for a conference championship title.

The match, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today, April 17, will be streamed live on the UAF esports Twitch channel. The program will also host a watch party in the Alaska Esports Center on the Troth Yeddha’ Campus in Fairbanks.

UAF joined the National Association of Collegiate Esports last fall and competed in the NACE Varsity Plus West-Central Conference during its inaugural fall season. This is the first time a UAF esports team has reached the finals, said UAF esports coordinator Drake Richards.

He planned on the 2022-2023 year being a building year for the UAF esports program. Reaching the conference championships was not expected, he said.

“I am really proud of them,” he said of team members Brighton Higbee, Trevor Christian and Daniel Renshaw. “They are so driven and passionate on their own. It has been really cool to see. They just put the work in to reach this level.”

UAF was ranked fourth heading into the single-elimination spring playoffs. In the first round of competition on April 3, UAF beat George Fox University 4-0. The Nanooks were an underdog in the second round as they faced first-seeded Boise State on April 10. The UAF team toppled the Broncos 4-2 to take a seat in the grand finals against second-seeded Jamestown. 

“It would be another upset win for us to beat Jamestown,” Richards said. “No matter what, it’s a big win for UAF to make the finals.”

The team’s performance this season is also a boon for UAF’s entire esports program, he added.

Reaching the conference championship match will help build the program and recruit team members, both in Alaska and nationally, Richards said.

“The fact that we are able to already do this well really opens up options for the future,” he said. “This will be nothing but good for us in getting the Nanook name out there in the esports world.”

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Drake Richards, dwrichards2@alaska.edu, 907-474-6040.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The match will be streamed on the UAF esports Twitch channel and to the watch party at the Alaska Esports Center. 

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