COLUMBIA, MD - In the most thrilling upset in the young history of the Howard CC Esports program, the Dragons Rocket League Team 1 brought down the mighty University of Alabama 3-2 in the best of five match.

The Crimson Tide came out flexing their muscle early with the first two goals of the match before Akaash Patel (/) made a brilliant give and go play with Logan Ghandi (/) to get on the board with less than a minute left in game one. It took just four seconds for the Dragons to tie the game as Jeremy Hotchkiss (Columbia, MD/Long Reach) made a strong hit off the face off to knock it off the wall and in the net. Alabama scored 30 seconds later to take the lead back, but Ghandi came flying in after a great pass from Hotchkiss to tie the game back up with 11 seconds left. In a tense overtime period, it took almost three minutes for Hotchkiss to choose just the right moment to come out of his own goal to hit the game winning goal and put Howard ahead 1-0. 

Alabama came back strong in game two as they took advantage of the Howard missteps in a 4-1 win with Hotchkiss scoring the lone goal for the Dragons.

For as one-sided as game two was, game three was even more so but this time in favor of the Dragons as they completely dominated for a 6-0 drubbing with Ghandi, Hotchkiss, and Patel all scoring two goals each outshooting the Tide 12-2.

Game four was back to being filled with anxiety for both teams as Alabama again scored the first two goals before the Dragons stormed back on late goals by Patel and Ghandi to tie it before a last minute Tide goal forced a fifth game.

In the deciding game five, Patel took advantage of a poor Alabama clear and hit a one-timer into the net to give the Dragons an early lead. The Crimson Tide responded back with a persistent attack to tie the game a minute later, but it took just 17 seconds for Ghandi to score on a brilliant Patel assist and give Howard the lead back. Alabama was able to power a shot in with two minutes left in regulation to tie the game at 2-2 and force overtime. The Dragons were completely on the attack from the kick off and hit the golden goal on a fantastic team effort as a pass from Hotchkiss found Patel who had his shot deflected right into the path of Ghandi who smashed the ball into the back of the net for the match winning golden goal.

The Dragons Team 1 improve to 6-1 in conference play on the year and allows them to compete for a first round bye in the playoffs with the #2 seed as they close out the regular season against Carroll University of Friday, November 6 at 8 PM.