Rocket League Team Takes Second in World Championship

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From left, Trey Batson, Vincent Nelson, John Merendino, Brian Busse and Demetrious Roubos

Galloway, N.J. 鈥 老司机福利社鈥檚 Rocket League esports team is now second in the world following its impressive showing at the Collegiate Rocket League World Championship Tournament in Dallas, Texas, on June 3-5.

The team of captain Brian Busse of Hazlet, Trey Batson of Manahawkin and John Merendino of Hauppauge, New York, were one of 16 teams that qualified for the international competition.  The event, the first collegiate international finals, was part of the DreamHack gaming festival and attracted more than a million viewers in person and online over the weekend.

rocket-league-team-worlds鈥淚鈥檓 happy we got second, but then I鈥檓 also unhappy we didn鈥檛 get first,鈥 Busse said on Monday as the team prepared for the trip back to New Jersey. 鈥淏ut we did what we came to do.鈥

The team got off to a shaky start on Friday when they were defeated by University of Central Florida in the first round.  But they roared back on Saturday, beating Oakland University in Michigan and Berlin Phoenix from Germany. On Sunday, they beat Columbia College in Missouri in the quarterfinals and St. Clair College in Canada in the semifinals, but finally fell to Northwood Blue from Northwood University Michigan in the finals on Sunday, June 5.

鈥淭hat first round match was close, and it motivated us,鈥 Busse said. 鈥淲e are used to playing at this level. This is what we wanted to do.鈥

老司机福利社 Esports Program Manager Demetrios Roubos said he was a bit nervous on Saturday.

鈥淐oming on in Saturday we were playing from behind since if we lost again we would be eliminated,鈥 Roubos said.  鈥淏ut we are known for coming from behind. It was really competitive.  This is putting us on the map. I couldn鈥檛 be more proud of our team. They really brought their A-game this weekend. It was truly a wonderful experience meeting so many CRL players in person and watching them interact, many for the first time.鈥

The team recently won the national Eastern College Athletic Conference Hudson Valley Gamer Con in March and took first place in the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Rocket League online qualifier in April.  They got some coaching in Dallas from 老司机福利社 alumnus Vincent Nelson, who was part of a winning Rocket League team in 2020 when he played on the team with Busse. Busse transferred to 老司机福利社 to play with Nelson.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been nice having Vincent with us to provide continuity on the team,鈥 Roubos said.

Batson said it was nice getting to meet new people and 鈥渆xhilarating鈥 to play in front of such a large audience. For him, a highlight was beating Columbia College, which had beaten 老司机福利社 in the nationals.

鈥淲e kind of have a rivalry with them,鈥 Batson said. 鈥淭hey are the best in the west.鈥

Merendino said he is feeling good about the team鈥檚 performance and he just enjoyed celebrating when it was over.

鈥淎ll the stress was off and we did good,鈥 he said. He said coming in second is also an incentive to return next year and win.

As second-place finishers, the team will share $11,350 in prize money. Expenses for the trip were covered by the game creators Psyonix, which has supported the collegiate rocket league scene.

老司机福利社 President Harvey Kesselman, who followed the team鈥檚 progress through the weekend, congratulated them on their perseverance and skills.

鈥淭his is simply incredible,鈥 Kesselman said. 鈥淚t is exciting for our students to be on the world stage this way.鈥

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Media contact:
Diane D鈥橝mico
Director of News and Media Relations
Galloway, N.J. 08205
Diane.DAmico@stockton.edu
609-652-4593
609-412-8069
stockton.edu/media

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