RESULTS: Los Angeles Gladiators Defeat Florida Mayhem in 2-0 Victory

The Los Angeles Gladiators came into the match in 8th place in the Overwatch League with a overall record of 9-8 and a 5-2 record in Stage 2. Los Angeles was coming off a 3-2 victory over the Houston Outlaws earlier in the week and were looking to continue their impressive Stage 2 run. The Florida Mayhem came into the match with a 3-14 record and in 11th place in the league. On a two game winning streak, Florida came into the match playing their best Overwatch with an impressive 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Valiant being their latest win. Both teams were looking to add onto the momentum that they had been able to build up until today. Here is a short breakdown of how the match went. 

Volskaya Industries was the first map of the match and saw the Florida Mayhem build a strong defense that would keep the Los Angeles Gladiators from capturing Point A, until the very end of overtime. The Gladiators would then ride the momentum of their Point A capture to push through the Mayhem's defense on Point B to secure their second point and the 2-0 lead on the map. Florida's attack round would see them also capture both control points and tie the match at 2-2. Another stalemate would ensue in the next two rounds, as both teams would capture Point A in their second attack rounds, but fail to capture Point B. This resulted in a 3-3 tie and a 0-0 score for the match after the first map. Chan-Hyung "Fissure" Baek (37 eliminations, 18,421 damage blocked and 11 deaths) and Johan "CWoosH" Klingestedt (40 eliminations, 22,124 damage blocked and nine deaths) both provided exceptional performances as Winston for their respective teams. 

Nepal followed and would see the Florida Mayhem take the first lead of the match. Utilizing strong performances from Andreas "Logix" Berghmans (15 eliminations, a kill streak of five and five deaths as Tracer) and Kevin "TviQ" Lindström (21 eliminations, five Helix Rocket kills and three deaths as Soldier: 76) led the Mayhem to capturing the first two hills. This resulted in the 2-0 win on Nepal and gave Florida a 1-0 lead heading into halftime. With the tie on Volskaya Industries, the Florida Mayhem only needed one more victory to clinch the match. 

Hollywood was the third map of the match. The Los Angeles Gladiators would rebound from their loss on Nepal with a dominating performance on Hollywood. With Fissure (30 eliminations, 11,987 damage blocked and three deaths as Winston) leading the way with his talented tank play, Los Angeles was able to complete the map in their attack round to capture three points and limit Florida to only one point in their attack round. The 3-1 victory on Hollywood tied the match at 1-1 going into the final map. 

Route 66 was the match deciding map and saw the Los Angeles Gladiators take a 2-0 lead in their attack round. Holding off multiple offensive pushes from the Florida Mayhem, the Los Angeles Gladiators were finally able to stop the Mayhem on the second checkpoint. Fissure (37 eliminations and 18,421 damage blocked) delivered the game winning play by knocking off the final members of the Mayhem with his Primal Rage Ultimate. 

Lane "Surefour" Roberts was named the player of the match for his strong Widowmaker play throughout all four maps. He finished with 34 eliminations, 20 final blows and 12 deaths as the deadly sniper.

With the win, the Los Angeles Gladiators improved to a record of 10-8 and put themselves in a great position to make the Stage 2 playoffs. The loss dropped the Florida Mayhem to a 3-15 record and put a stop to the team's winning streak, but Florida was able to show that they are still playing at a very high level by giving one of the best Stage 2 teams a run for their money. 

Interested in more Overwatch League coverage? Check out when the Shanghai Dragons are expecting to see one of their new players arrive in the United States. To see when your favorite team is playing next, check out the official Overwatch League schedule. 

(cover photo courtesy of Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)