Breaking onto the World Stage
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Rocket League team, the KIT SC Lawnmowers, have had a very interesting season. After qualifying for the Group Stage of the EURC, they were able to win 6/9 of the series within their group, taking 4th place in group A and qualifying for the Playoffs. Going into the playoffs, they were 21 seed, but they remained undefeated until the Upper Semi-Finals where their win streak came to an end at the hands of Berlin Phoenix. However, KIT still had some fight left in them and were able to win the Lower Quarter-Finals, which automatically placed them in the top 4 for the EURC 2022 season. Despite losing again in the Lower Semi-Finals and being eliminated from the Playoffs, their top 4 spot granted them qualification for the CRL World Championship.
KIT SC Player Information
Something unique to KIT SC is that all of them have experience with other teams. KIT SC’s roster consists of players “Matee10,” “PadS,” and “LorisRaptor.” Matee has proven himself to be an absolute beast and in-game leader for his team. He is a known bubble player (a term that is coined for performing well, but not quite on a professional level) in EU, and has placed 1st through 4th in every tournament he has competed in.
PadS competes not only with KIT, but also in the Women’s Carball Championship (WCBC) and has placed 2nd through 4th in every tournament she’s played in. LorisRaptor competed with another team before his time on KIT SC as well, but he’s relatively new to the competitive Rocket League scene. I spoke to PadS and asked her how her team was formed. She told me: “…we didn’t really form as much as we were assigned to one another and tried out basically after joining KIT SC. KIT SC esports is one of the biggest esports clubs in Germany and I don’t mean just in the collegiate scene, even though its a collegiate club.”
LAN Experience
While LANs give a chance for players to meet new people and experience the hype of a live crowd, they can also add pressure to players that haven’t played in that setting before. Luckily, KIT already has LAN experience from Uniliga, which is a German League for University students. PadS expressed her positive outlook on the live CRL World Championship event to me, stating: “I personally look forward to meeting everyone from EURC, CRL, anyone in the Rocket League scene in general, and my North American Rocket League friends.” PadS and her teammates are extremely ecstatic to travel to Dallas and play on the World Championship stage. Having previous LAN experience reduces their stress for the live event and allows the players to enjoy themselves a lot more.
Hard Work & Dedication
There is no doubt that KIT have worked hard to get to the CRL World Championship stage. In 2020 they placed 2nd in the EURC, which was PadS and Matee’s first year together. It’s impressive how far they’ve been able to progress in such a short amount of time. KIT sets themselves apart from other teams through their hard work in other tournaments. It takes dedication to play not only for your own university, but also on different teams with separate practice schedules.
Mowing the World Stage
Although a lot of the EU teams are unknown to the Collegiate Rocket League scene in North America, KIT SC is a force to be reckoned with as they displayed in their amazing EURC bracket run. The Lawnmowers are sure to give NA a run for their money, and I wish them the best of luck on the World Stage!
Follow the Action
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology begins Worlds with a Group Stage Best-of-5 against St. Clair College. Watch it on the Rocket League Twitch on June 3 10 a.m. CT (3 p.m. UTC).
Match results and brackets will be posted on both the College Carball Twitter and the Rocket League Esports Twitter.
Check out the schedule so you don’t miss the first International CRL World Championships!
