KCP Chronicles: Another Top 4 Placing

KCP Chronicles: KCP Chronicles: Another Top 4 placing in Qualifier five sparks change.

Written by Trey Donovan

Another week has gone by, and the Pioneers had another weekend of Rocket League to play. Open Qualifier five saw the team get another top four placing in a competitive OCE region. The Pioneers got into the Swiss stage after winning their games in the double elimination stage of the Qualifier.

In the first match of the Swiss Stage the Pioneers faced Composure and promptly swept them with a balanced showing from the whole squad. Everyone on the Pioneers had three plus goals and four plus saves in the series sweep. The next series in Swiss Stage saw dominance from the Pioneers as they swept FIZ6 Gaming. Offensively, Superlachie took over and scored seven of the Pioneers 14 goals in the sweep. Amphis and Fiberr combined for the other seven while assisting in eight goals combined.

In game three of the Swiss Stage, the Pioneers faced Chiefs Esports Club who were on their tails in RLCS points. Game one of the series saw Fiberr get a hat trick and the Pioneers getting a clean sheet, shutting out Chiefs. Then Fiberr played hero in game two with an overtime goal to put the Pioneers up 2-0 in the series. After that, however, the Pioneers would not score again in the series and saw Kaka take over for the Chiefs as he scored seven of the eight goals for his team in the reverse sweep.

After a chance to put away a team that is close to them in RLCS points the Pioneers played HSP and got back on track. Game one, once again, saw Fiberr take over scoring two goals and getting three saves to win game one. In the second game of the series, HSP got going offensively, scoring three goals to take the match. As is the tale with the match against the Chiefs, Fiberr played hero again in overtime in game three while scoring both goals for the Pioneers. In game four, the Pioneers offense closed the door as they won four to one to take the series and finish the Swiss Stage portion of the Qualifier.

The Playoff stage saw the Pioneers play some familiar foes as they started against HSP. The series started off with some fireworks as both teams were scoring. Fiberr provided a hat trick and Superlachie added two to lead the Pioneers to a five to four win. Game two slowed down a little as the Pioneers got one goal from all three players to win the game. In the third match, HSP looked to get one on the board and they did with a two-goal game from Baz while the Pioneers slowed down a bit. The rest of the series saw the Pioneers score seven more goals while only giving up one leading to a four to one series win.

In the semifinal match, the Pioneers played the Chiefs once again. The first two matches of the series saw the Pioneers get off to a slow start offensively, getting shut out twice. Then in games three and four the Pioneers balanced attack looked to come back in the series as everyone scored once in both games tying the series at two. After that, however, the Pioneers stalled out as the Chiefs scored six more times in the series to take it leaving the Pioneers with another top four finish

Shortly after bowing out of Qualifier five, the Pioneers made the decision to bench Fiberr (as per his Twitter/X). He explains that after the team’s loss to PWR in Qualifier four they couldn’t get on the same page as a squad. With this news heading into Open Qualifier six, the Pioneers coach Mock will step in and try to help the Pioneers make a push for the two seed in the OCE. Open Qualifier six starts on May 25 and ends on June 2 with a chance to get into Major Two in London.