-Trisha Kangas
At the start of the day, Aug 27, the Broncos were without a win, starting their fifth match in the UCI Best Coast Invitational. However, by the end of the day, things would change for Boise State.
For this invitational, every team is divided into two groups which play each other in a “best of three” series.
Since the previous matches were quite close for the Broncos, they were eager to put their best foot forward in the match against Michigan State. The Broncos started strong, were able to get an early lead, but weren’t quite positioned as they would have wanted, which forced a few too many fights and caused a loss of the first game in just over 30 minutes.
In game two, the team changed their strategy to play more aggressively and focus on player’s strengths. This paid off as the Broncos took a commanding lead and accumulated an impressive dominance of gold at 6k within 15 minutes. From then on, the team remained calm and took things slow, as to not lose their edge.
At 20 minutes, Michigan State threw in the towel, feeling they couldn’t recover from the deficit.
In the final, Boise State felt confident in their strategy and stuck with it. The game brought out a lot of new picks and was a push and pull as one team took the lead, then the other countered with immediate force, stealing the spotlight. Simply action packed, the game came in at 89 eliminations throughout.
The early game dragon focus of the Broncos allowed Boise State to obtain the dragon soul at 30 minutes. Using this added power, the team was able to get the baron and end it all at 37 minutes.
Boise State achieved their first win of the tournament and are looking better than ever! Go Broncos!