Saturday, January 28th — Super Smash Bros. at Alma College
Game 1: The Smash team lost an exciting season opener match to Alma College on Saturday with a deceptive 0-2 score. The Pioneers opened with
Peyton Engel's (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) Corrin squaring off against Alma's Wolf. After taking all three stocks off Peyton, the Wolf then faced off against the team's captain
Mason Rice (Marietta, Ohio/Parkersburg South (W.Va.)) and his signature Joker pick. Mason was able to take two stocks off the Wolf but was ultimately bested resulting in the final Pioneer,
Zac Lane (Stratford, N.J./Buena Regional), to step up to the plate. Zac's Little Mac easily took the Wolf's one remaining stock and proceeded to face Jigglypuff in the next map. This is where Zac was able to shine, eliminating all three of Jigglypuff's stock without losing one. Unfortunately, his next opponent, Lucina, would best him and eliminate all three of Zac's remaining stock as Little Mac.
Game 2: Alma College swaps their starting player's character to Link, while
Mason Rice (Marietta, Ohio/Parkersburg South (W.Va.)) is renewed on Joker. Mason makes quick work of his opponent removing all three of Link's stock, while only losing two himself. His next opponent would be the infamous Wolf from the previous game, who was able to swiftly eliminate Joker's one remaining stock.
Zac Lane (Stratford, N.J./Buena Regional) steps in next as Little Mac and was able to take two stocks off the Wolf; however, the Wolf would in turn take three of his. Finally,
Peyton Engel (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central), in the anchor position as Corrin, would face off against the Wolf. Unable to remove any of their stock, Peyton would ultimately fall with the Wolf having one remaining stock.
Final Score: 0-2 Loss
Saturday, January 28th — Super Smash Bros. @ Baldwin Wallace University
Game 1:
Mason Rice (Marietta, Ohio/Parkersburg South (W.Va.)) would start as Joker against Baldwin Wallace's Incineroar. Mason struggled to contain the aggression from his opponent but was able to eliminate one stock from them.
Peyton Engel (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) would step in next as Corrin, where again the opponent's Incineroar would maintain the aggression and take away all three of Peyton's stock with her only taking one away. As anchor,
Zac Lane (Stratford, N.J./Buena Regional) and his equally aggressive and punishing Little Mac would take the final remaining stock from the Incineroar. His next opponent, Sephiroth, would ultimately defeat him without losing a single stock resulting in a Game 1 loss.
Game 2: The Pioneers would try and recover in game two, sending out
Peyton Engel (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) as their starter with Corrin at her side. She would face off against the opponents intimidating Incineroar once again, where she would take one of their stocks but ultimately be eliminated. Next up was
Mason Rice (Marietta, Ohio/Parkersburg South (W.Va.)) as Joker where a spark of confidence and swagger led him to best his opponent without losing a single stock. The match would then turn in Baldwin Wallace's favor when
Mason Rice (Marietta, Ohio/Parkersburg South (W.Va.)) would then face their Sora. Unable to take more than one stock from them, Mason would be followed up by
Zac Lane (Stratford, N.J./Buena Regional) and his signature Little Mac. After landing successful blows onto Sora,
Zac Lane (Stratford, N.J./Buena Regional) would be walk away victorious with a remaining two stock. His final match up would be against BW's Sephiroth. Although, MC had momentum, they were unable to defend against the onslaught from Sephiroth, resulting in a game and match win for Baldwin Wallace.
Final Score: 0-2 Loss
Saturday, January 28th — Rocket League vs. Trine University
The Marietta College Pioneers' Rocket League team faced off against Trine University in their season opener where they would unfortunately fall 0-3. Their starting lineup of captain
Austin Offenberger (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta),
Alec Ellis (Charleston, W.Va./George Washington), and
Serj Wahl (Zanesville, Ohio/) were unable to find their footing early on as the first two matches were heavily in favor of Trine with score of 1-5 and 0-5. However, the Pioneers would eventually bounce back and remain competitive throughout the final game, where the ending score was 3-4. Their coach, Kaiden Loborec, stated that "it's still very early in the season and that he is confident in the group of players he has and their ability to adapt and improve through the coming weeks/months."
Final Score: 0-3 Loss
Saturday, January 28th — Overwatch 2 vs. Lourdes University
Map 1: (Oasis - Control) The Overwatch team would start their Spring season against a tough opponent in Lourdes University on Oasis. Their composition consisted of
Eric Schnegg (Clarington, Ohio/St. John Central) on tank as Orisa, Jasmine Smith on DPS as Soldier 76, Jeffery Dolby on DPS as Sojourn, Bailey Matheny on Support as Kiriko, and their captain,
Corey McFann (South Webster, Ohio/) on support as Lucio. Lourdes University would come out swinging and take the capture point first, racking up 32% completion until MC would flip it in their favor. After capturing the point 31%, MC would lose control and it would remain in Lourdes' favor until completion resulting in a round 1 loss. Round 2 would turn out to be slightly better for the Pioneers, where they would maintain control for 41%, but would still lose the round.
Map 2: (King's Row - Hybrid) Starting the round on attack, the Pioneers would use
Corey McFann (South Webster, Ohio/) on tank this round as Ramattra. Jasmine Smith and Jeffery Dolby would be on DPS as Cassidy and Sojourn respectively, while
Eric Schnegg (Clarington, Ohio/St. John Central) and Bailey Matheny would be supporting them as Moira and Lucio. The Pioneers were unable to secure capture point progress to unlock the payload, which in turn would be their downfall as they would go on to lose the map 0-1.
Map 3: (Dorado – Escort) Marietta College would start this map as attackers where their composition of Ramattra, Echo, Genji, Moira, and Kiriko would successfully push the object 72.4m. This was not enough distance to secure a point, however if the Pioneers were able to stop the upcoming attack they would still win the round. This however would not be the case as Lourdes University was able to push the cart further and secure the win for them.
Final Score: 0-3 Loss
Saturday, January 28th — League of Legends vs. University of Louisville
Game 1: The Pioneers' League of Legends team, headed by their new coach Jesse 'Glitch' Edman faced off against the University of Louisville in their Collegiate League of Legends Spring 2023 season. Their roster consisted of
Bryce Heitman (Fleming, Ohio/Warren Local) in the Top Lane,
Tyler Salanitro (Hope Mills, N.C./Grays Creek) in the Jungle,
Alec Wang (Cincinnati, Ohio/) at Mid Lane, Stefani Saunders at the ADC position, and captain
Bethany Holstein (Little Hocking, Ohio/Warren Local) at Support. Their starting composition consisted of: Urgot, Wukong, Qiyana, Sivir, and Neeko respectively. Their opponents composition consisted of: Aatrox, Viego, Syndra, Draven and Nami. Ultimately the Pioneers would fall to the Cardinals in game 1 at 26:11 with a final score of 23-7.
Game 2: The League of Legends team would go on to start game 2 by banning: Anivia, Draven, Udyr, Syndra, and Aatrox. They themselves would pick: Darius, Diana, Vladimir, Kai'Sa, and Rell. The University of Louisville would start game 2 by picking: K'Sante, Poppy, Akshan, Ashe, and Heimerdinger, while banning: Fiora, Urgot, Maokai, Graves, and Tristana. The Cardinals would ultimately walk away with a victory for both the game and match when they beat the Pioneers at 22:30 with a final score of 33-3.
Final Score: 0-2 Loss
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
