RESULTS: New York Excelsior Collect 4-0 Victory Vs Houston Outlaws

The New York Excelsior came into today's match with a record of 11-2 and in 1st place in the Overwatch League. New York had defeated the Boston Uprising 4-0 earlier in the week. The Houston Outlaws came into the match with a record of 9-4 and were looking to push their win column into the double digit range. With major implications for the Stage 2 standings on the line, both teams needed a victory to put themselves into a strong position for the rest of Stage 2. Here is a short breakdown of how the match went. 

Volskaya Industries was the first map of the match, and saw the New York Excelsior hold off the Houston Outlaws in their defensive round. The Outlaws would not be able to break through New York's defense and would finish their attack round with zero points. With a clear opening for victory, the New York Excelsior would take advantage and secured Point A to claim the 1-0 win on Volskaya Industries. Jong-Ryeol  "Saebyeolbe" Park, Tae-Hong "Meko" Kim and Hae-Seong "Libero" Kim collected 51 eliminations and only three deaths between the three of them. This incredible performance from the Excelsior trio could not be handled by the Houston Outlaws. New York would take a 1-0 lead heading into the second map.

Lijiang Tower would be the following map in the match. Houston was able to start out strong and take the first hill to take a 1-0 lead. The Excelsior would rebound and secure the second hill in a back and forth struggle to tie the map at 1-1. New York would be able to make the important plays when they mattered most on the third hill to steal the game winning point from Houston. While the Outlaws were able to give the Excelsior a hard fight, New York had an answer to everything Houston threw at them. Meko would put together a second straight high level performance, as he would collect 27 eliminations and 10 final blows as D.Va. Libero (13 eliminations and only 3 deaths as Pharah) and Yeon-Jun "Ark" Hong ( 20 eliminations, 10,104 healing done and only three deaths as Lúcio) would also contribute to the winning effort for New York. 

The third map of the match would be King's Row and had the Houston Outaws up against the wall, as a loss would put a match victory out of their grasps. Continuing the dominance that they have shown on King's Row before, Houston was able to deliver the payload all of the way to the end of the map to take a 3-0 lead. New York would be able to rebound and complete the map to force a 3-3 tie. This would send the map into a time bank round, as both teams would be racing against the clock. A couple of impressive kills from Seong-Hyun "Jjonak" Bang in the final stretch would be the deciding factor for the Excelsior. Houston would collect two points in their second attack round to take a 5-3 lead, but the Excelsior were able to push back an impressive defensive hold from the Outlaws to secure their 6th point and claim the win on King's Row. The hard fought 6-5 map victory would guarantee the match win for the New York Excelsior with the scoreline at 3-0. Jjonak delivered the classic Zenyatta performance that he is known for, as he would have 30 eliminations, 14,918 healing done, 11,921 damage done and only five deaths. 

Route 66 was the final map of the match and saw both teams playing for map count at this point. The Houston Outlaws were able to deliver the payload to the first checkpoint to secure their first point, but that would be all the New York Excelsior would allow in their defensive round. Looking to complete the sweep of the Outlaws, the New York Excelsior would deliver the payload to the second checkpoint and secure the 2-1 win on Route 66. This would result in a 4-0 match victory for New York. Saebyeolbe gave the Outlaws plenty of trouble, as he would have 28 eliminations and only two deaths as Tracer.

Ark was named the player of the match for the excellent performance he had with Ana. He finished with 23 eliminations, 25,202 healing done, 10 enemies slept and only nine deaths. You can not ask much more from an Ana player than to connect with more sleep darts than the number of times they died. 

With the win, the New York Excelsior improved to a record of 12-2. The loss dropped the Houston Outlaws to a record of 9-5. While it was a 4-0 sweep, the match was a hard fought battle that could have gone in either teams' way at multiple times. 

Interested in more Overwatch League coverage? Check out our recap of the London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion match from earlier today.

(cover photo courtesy of Overwatch League Facebook)