Rocket League JV squad headlines stellar spring
Morningside University esports head coach Jared Amundson can see his program turning a corner.
“I have seen some mental blocks pushed through,” the Mustangs' second-year skipper noted. “There was a time, especially last fall, where I think the feeling was we may not have deserved to be playing the type of competition we’re matching up against.”
“However, everyone made a point of pushing through that underdog mentality,” he added. “As we moved into the postseason, we all felt like, ‘Hey, we deserve to be where we’re at.’”
Morningside proved that in all four disciplines. League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, and Valorant all made their divisional playoffs and were right at or above .500.
The main headline of the 2021-22 campaign turned out to be the gritty Rocket League junior varsity team of freshmen Seth Nelson (Remsen, Iowa), Tyler Duffy (Tea, S.D.), Sean Corbin (Fort Myers, Fla.), and Nic Heise (The Villages, Fla.), and senior Brock Rebensdorf (Sioux City, Iowa). The group rolled through their spring playoffs to win the title and then nearly added to the historic stretch by reaching the semifinals of the NECC National Championships.
“I knew this team was better than they let on initially,” Amundson said. “I figured we were capable of being among the best divisionally. To win the playoff and then get to the national semifinals was awesome. It was a case of the more time they played together, the better they got.”
Morningside held off a stubborn charge from Great Plains Athletic Conference rival Hastings 4-3 to win the divisional postseason championship. In the first round, they received a bye, swept Finlandia College 3-0 in the second round, advanced to the semifinals with a bye, and then were felled by eventual champion New England College 4-0.
“The final score didn’t tell the entire story,” Amundson reflected. “We were within two goals in each of the four games.”
“The way we finished the year makes our coaching staff excited for 2022-23,” he added. “A culture is being instilled of knowing every game in every discipline being winnable. We just need to get everyone on the same wavelength.”
Amundson mentioned that he and his staff plan on reaching out for more team members with the start of the new school year this coming August. Mside will continue to offer competition in all four games and is working on an in-person fall event against the rest of the GPAC.