Columbia, MD - The Howard Community College Rocket League teams got out to a fantastic start to their conference regular season, as both teams swept their opening matches against Hood College and Carroll University.

The Dragons' Team 2 kicked off the regular season going up against the Hood College Grey Team in a rematch from the placement tournament with Howard taking firm control of this bout. The first round was a close 3-1 victory for Howard with Oscar Minota (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) scoring two goals with an assist and Matthew Peck (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) scoring a goal with two assists. Round two was even closer as the Dragons' Minota scored the game winning goal in the last minute to take a 3-2 round win with Minota picking up a hat trick. Howard got the brooms out for the sweep thanks to a 2-0 round three shutout with Abdul Mohimyn (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) scoring the early game winner for the Dragons to defeat the Blazers 3-0 in the match.

Team 1 took the digital pitch shortly after and found a tough test in the Carroll University Pioneers. After falling behind early, the Dragons stormed back to force overtime in round one where it took just 30 seconds for Akaash Patel to score the golden goal. The Dragons conceded first again in round two, but an incredible seven goal performance from Jeremy Hotchkiss (Columbia, MD/Long Reach) gave Howard a huge 8-1 win. Round three was a grind for both teams, but goals by Hotchkiss and Patel along with an epic save by Ghandi put Howard up 2-1 for the game and won the match 3-0 moving both Dragon teams into a tie for first place in the NECC.

The Howard Rocket League teams will get back at it on Thursday, September 24 against New Mexico State University in the Fall Brawl before both teams get back to conference action the following day with Team 1 taking on California State University Dominguez Hills with Team 2 facing Montana University at 7:30 PM.