As the 24-25 season comes to a close, the Falcons are looking back on their second consecutive year with an overall program winning record and another shot at a conference championship on Sunday, May 4. However, it's time to shine a spotlight on each UWRF's several rosters as well as the different leagues and tournaments they compete in between September and May. First up are the Rainbow 6: Siege and Rocket League teams, two of the youngest rosters in UWRF Esports.
A constant this year was the growth of the program through key underclass additions. UWRF R6 and Rocket League brought in nine new players, consisting of eight underclassmen to join four returning student-athletes. Seven of these players made immediate impacts as full-time starters across the fall and spring seasons. Despite the rebuild, both teams qualified for playoffs in each of the four leagues the Falcons competed in: MidwestR6, the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), the National Esports Collegiate Conferences (NECC), and the Wisconsin Esports Conference (WEC).
UWRF R6, led by team captain Sean Thomas, a transfer from UW-Eau Claire, started off the Fall Midwest R6 season strong with a commanding 2-0 win over University of Nebraska-Lincoln. New assistant coach Ricky Caraher continued to focus on fundamentals over results as the Falcons narrowly made the fall playoffs. Junior Carter Ehlers propelled the Falcons to a top-16 finish with a standout 25 eliminations in their 2-0 sweep against Kansas State University in round one before falling to No. 1 seed Northwood in round two. In the spring, the Falcons once again added two freshmen to the roster and proceeded to make playoffs for their fourth consecutive semester. Their season ended with an extremely close 1-2 loss to Marian University in round one.
UWRF Rocket League returned WCRL Spring 2024 MVP Gavin Schnepper, a Hudson High School alumnus, as the core of the team along with assistant coach Trenton Corbett. Despite the bumpy start to their WEC Fall season, the Falcons ended the season winning five out of eight and three out of their last five with key Northwest Regional wins over UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stout, and CVTC before falling to UW-Stout in a playoff rematch. Freshmen Zeke Marquardt and Luke Smith experienced their first taste of national competition in the spring while competing in both NACE and NECC. Similar to the fall, the Falcons turned it on in the second half of the season with six wins in their last eight games across both leagues to secure playoffs. They finished top four and top eight in their NACE and NECC divisional playoff runs respectively.
