RESULTS: Boston Uprising Eliminate Los Angeles Gladiators From Playoff Contention

The Stage 2 darlings Los Angeles Gladiators entered today's match with a 6-3 record for Stage 2 and in 5th place in the Overwatch League. Needing a perfect 4-0 sweep to clinch a spot in the Stage 2 playoffs, the Los Angeles Gladiators were as motivated as ever to play their best Overwatch. The Boston Uprising came into the match with a Stage 2 record of 5-4 and in 6th place in the league. Coming off of a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Shock earlier in the week, Boston was looking to spoil the playoff hopes of Los Angeles in any way they could. Here is a short breakdown of how the match went. 

Volskaya Industries was up first, and the Boston Uprising executed an impressive offensive push in their attack round to capture both control points, which resulted in the Uprising taking a 2-0 lead. With a playoff spot on the line, the Gladiators did everything in their power to collect two points in their attack round. However, Boston held strong on Point B to prevent Los Angeles from gaining another point, thus giving the Uprising the 2-1 map win and the 1-0 match lead. Dominant performances from both Lucas "NotE" Meissner (26 eliminations, 9,194 damage blocked and four deaths as D.Va) and SeHyun "Neko" Park (25 eliminations, 10,379 healing done, 7,085 damage done and four deaths as Zenyatta) propelled the Boston Uprising in their elimination of the Los Angeles Gladiators from Stage 2 playoff contention. 

Lijiang Tower followed and saw the Boston Uprising ride the momentum they had collected from their win on Volskaya Industries. Not wasting any time, Boston utilized the impressive play of Nam-Ju "STRIKER" Gwon (23 eliminations, a kill streak of 13 and zero deaths as Tracer) and NotE (22 eliminations, 8,644 damage blocked and two deaths as D.Va) to capture the first two hills and secure the 2-0 victory on Lijiang Tower. This allowed the Uprising to take a 2-0 lead going into halftime. 

Hollywood was the third map of the match, and it saw the Boston Uprising out for blood. Continuing the excellent play from the first two maps of the match, Boston was able to break through Los Angeles' defense and complete the map to take a 3-0 lead. Responding with their own strong attack round, the Los Angeles Gladiators were able to deliver the payload to the end of Hollywood to tie the map at 3-3. A full hold on the payload in their second defense round gave the los Angeles Gladiators an opportunity to secure the map win in their second attack round. Capitalizing on this opportunity, Los Angeles broke right through the Uprising defense and were able to collect their fourth point and cut Boston's lead to 2-1. Lan "Surefour" Roberts (24 eliminations and six deaths as Widowmaker) and Aaron "Bischu" Kim (37 eliminations, 12,528 damage blocked and eight deaths as D.Va) were the standout performers for the Gladiators on Hollywood.

Route 66 was the fourth map of the match. Boston was able to put together a well coordinated offensive push to deliver the payload to the end of the map to take a 3-0 lead, despite a last second stall from the Gladiators. Surefour was unstoppable on Widowmaker in the Los Angeles Gladiators' attack round, as his accurate shooting led his team to deliver the payload to the very end of the map to tie the score at 3-3. In their second attack round, the Boston Uprising were able to collect another point to take a 4-3 lead, but that would be all the Uprising were able to secure. The Los Angeles Gladiators were able to make the necessary plays in the end to grab two points in their second attack round to take the 5-4 win on Route 66 and tie the match at 2-2. The Los Angeles Gladiators had the truly dominant performances of Chan-Hyung "Fissure" Baek (50 eliminations, 18,413 damage blocked and nine deaths as Winston) and Jun-Sung "Asher" Choi (57 eliminations, a kill streak of 16 and nine deaths as Tracer) to thank for their victory.

Ilios was the final map of the match. A back and forth struggle began the action, and it saw the Los Angeles Gladiators capture the first point and take a 1-0 lead. Looking to avoid the reverse sweep, the Boston Uprising were able to tie the map at 1-1 with a capture of the second point. Boston was finally able to put the Gladiators' comeback to an end with a capture of the final point to secure the 2-1 win on Ilios and the 3-2 match win. 

STRIKER was named the player of the match for his excellent Tracer performance on each map, as he finished with 138 eliminations, 68 final blows and 32 deaths.

With the win, the Boston Uprising improved to a record of 6-4 for Stage 2 and finished in 6th place. The loss dropped the Los Angeles Gladiators to a 6-4 record for Stage 2 and eliminated them from playoff contention. The Philadelphia Fusion will now be playing the London Spitfire on Sunday for a chance to face the New York Excelsior and fight for the title of Stage 2 Champion. 

Interested in more Overwatch League coverage? Check out our recap of the New York Excelsior and Los Angeles Valiant match from earlier today. To see where your favorite team currently stands, check out the official standings.

(cover photo courtesy of Robert paul for Blizzard Entertainment)