RESULTS: London Spitfire Take 3-1 Victory Over San Francisco Shock

The London Spitfire came into the match with a record of 11-5 and in 3rd place in the Overwatch League. With San Francisco being their first opponent of Week 4, the London Spitfire were looking to start their week off on a positive note. The San Francisco Shock entered the match with a 5-11 record and in 9th place in the league. San Francisco was looking to secure a win in the first start for new support player Grant "Moth" Espe. With Stage 2 coming to a close soon, both teams were looking for another win to improve their overall standing towards the approaching playoffs. Here is a short breakdown of how the match went.

Volskaya Industries was the first map of the match, and it saw strong defensive efforts from both teams. London was able to capture Point A in their attack round, but the San Francisco Shock would hold tough on Point B to prevent the Spitfire from gaining another point. However, one point would be all that the London Spitfire would need, as the 3rd place team would prevent the Shock from capturing Point A. This resulted in the 1-0 win on Volskaya Industries and 1-0 match lead for the London Spitfire. The Trio of Jae-Hui "Gesture" Hong (24 eliminations, 11,739 damage blocked and eight deaths as Winston), Seung-Hyun "WooHyaL" Seong (20 eliminations, 7,575 damage blocked and four deaths as D.Va) and Jun-Young "Profit" Park (25 eliminations, a kill streak of nine and five deaths as Tracer) led the way for London on Volskaya Industries.

Nepal followed Volskaya Industries and saw San Francisco play London very tough, but the Shock would fail to close out each of the first two hills. The London Spitfire would capitalize on the mistakes of the San Francisco Shock and make the necessary plays in the end to collect the 2-0 win on Nepal and the 2-0 lead going into halftime. Excellent Zenyatta play from Seung-Tae "Bdosin" Choi (14 eliminations, 6,131 healing done, 4,058 damage done and three deaths) and a superb Winston performance from Gesture (13 eliminations, 4,267 damage blocked and two deaths) were the driving forces for the Spitfire's victory on Nepal.

Hollywood was the third map of the match. Needing a win to avoid the match loss, the San Francisco Shock were able to bounce back strong. Utilizing the impressive play of Andrej "BABYBAY" Francisty (18 eliminations, six Helix Rocket kills and zero deaths as Soldier:76) and Andreas "Nevix" Karlsson (17 eliminations, 7,789 damage blocked and four deaths as D.Va), San Francisco was able to hold London scoreless on Hollywood. This allowed the Shock to take the 1-0 win with the payload capture and cut the Spitfire's lead to 2-1. 

Route 66 was the fourth map and saw the London Spitfire looking to close out the match, while the San Francisco Shock were determined to tie the series and force a match deciding map five. London would be able to put together a strong offensive push in their attack round to grab two points and take a 2-0 lead. San Francisco would have a bit of a struggle to take the first checkpoint of Hollywood, but a Whole Hog ultimate from BABYBAY would push the remaining Spitfire players off of the payload, thus allowing the Shock to grab their first point. San Francisco would make a valaint effort near the end of the second checkpoint, but London would eventually hold strong and prevent the Shock from securing their second point. This resulted in the 2-1 victory on Route 66 and 3-1 match win for the London Spitfire. Excellent performances from Bdosin (21 eliminations, 9,536 healing done, 7,777 damage done and nine deaths as Zenyatta), Gesture (36 eliminations, 12,940 damage blocked and eigth deaths as Winston) and Profit (38 eliminations, 25 final blows and eight deaths as Tracer) led the way for London. 

Profit was named the player of the match for the dominant Tracer play that he showed throughout each map. He finished with 71 eliminations, 45 final blows and nine deaths. 

With the win, the London Spitfire improved to a record of 12-5, but the one map loss put them two maps behind the Los Angeles Gladiators for a spot in the Stage 2 playoffs. The loss dropped the San Francisco Shock to a 5-12 record, but they showed once again that they have the potential to play with the best teams in the league.

Interested in more Overwatch League coverage? Check out our recap of the Los Angeles Gladiators and Florida Mayhem match from earlier today. 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)