The Hardrocker League of Legends team opened their spring season this Saturday in the College League of Legends (CLoL) in a best of 3 match against the University of Chicago. The Hardrockers would fall 2-0 but remain optimistic about the rest of the season. The Hardrockers will face the Drake Bulldogs this Saturday at 2:00pm MST in their second week of action.
 
Esports Coordinator, Mike Vander Heyden spoke at length saying, "Finishing third in the CCL last fall has given our young team confidence going into the CLoL. Our team is hungry to prove themselves and I believe we will surprise a few teams this season. This year's goals are to get us in position to win the critical team fights, improve upon our final standings, and win a playoff match. There was a lot to take away from today's match, having to start the season against a Top 30 opponent really set the bar for where we need to be by season's end heading into the tournament.
 
The CLoL schedule runs for 6 weeks followed by a single-elimination tournament with weekly matchups being released on the following Monday of competitions. The Hardrockers are a member of the North Conference which consists of 83 teams and fell from 59^th to 70^th with the loss.
 
Captain Gavin "SincereSupport" Eldridge, who finished with 33 totals assists, followed up Vander Heyden's comments saying, "Expectations are high, we are very optimistic on what we can accomplish as a team. This is an entirely new team, no one on our team has experience in this tournament, so we are looking forward to showing everyone what we can do and how much we are going to learn and grow. While we dropped 18 spots in the preseason, we are aiming to get back to the level achieved last year and hopefully surpassing that mark.
 
You can follow the Hardrocker Esports teams at www.gorockers.com, broadcasting live on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/hardrocker_esports, and on Twitter @SDMines_Esports for updates.