CollegiateStarleague Profile Blog Joined May 2011 United States 550 Posts #1





Passion and Perseverance: The Story of Worcester Polytechnic Institute

By Chris Bizzell





In the game of Starcraft II, sometimes it is truly our passion that makes us persevere through the toughest of times. Our passion for the game can drive us to make a desperate comeback against a foe that has all but defeated us. It can compel us to keep trying, even in the face of an endless string of defeats. For Worcester Polytechnic Institute, it did exactly that. With an overall record of 6 – 12 last season, they can easily be blown off as just another team that couldn’t hang with the big dogs. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. With some truly inspiring wins last season, WPI is a team that we can all learn from. Coming from humble beginnings, they built something to behold; and that’s a tradition they intend to continue going into this season.



Coming into their first season, the team’s main objective was just to get people involved. Lydia Johnston, one of the team members from last year, said that their coordinator, Michael Solano, “wanted to focus on getting people to play.” For him, competing in the CSL wasn’t about winning or losing; it was about giving everyone that wanted to play for their school an outlet to do so. According to Johnston, “[their coordinator] was always really spirited and upbeat.” His perspective of perseverance always shined through in his e-mails to the team. In an message sent as they were 0-8 and about to face Tufts University, Solano wrote “This is it. Our time to shine! We have one last week in the first half of the season to get a win! Who is available and wants to play this Thursday at 9 against Tufts?” This is a prime example of his both the unyielding positivity that he spread throughout the team and his continued efforts to let everyone get a chance to fight under the banner of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.



With all this passion, WPI seems like they would be an extremely tough team to break; but last season surely gave its best effort. To say that WPI had a tough first few opponents would be the biggest understatement that I’ve ever professionally written. In their first match, they squared off against Dalhousie University, a team that only lost one game in the regular season. Following that, they played Harvard University, CSL’s overall third place team of last season. Though the season got easier from there, they still struggled in their matches. Many of them went to the ace match, without a dedicated ace player. Thomas DeSilva, another player from last season, said that it came down to the question of “Who wants to play another [game]?” This all changed when Howie Robichaud, aka iMpPhantaxx, joined the team at the beginning the second part of the season. With a dedicated ace and a win in their final game of 2011 against Virginia Commonwealth University, WPI went into the second part of the season with increased moral and a drive to win against all odds.



Though their focus of never excluding anyone that wanted to play was never let go, Solano said at the beginning of the season that they were fighting for their lives at this point. They now had to start winning games in order to make it to the playoffs. He said that everyone was welcome to play, but he really wanted those who had success in their matches in the CSL to step up to bat. From there on, their players got more consistent. While they lost their next two games against Yale University and the University of South Carolina, their players were becoming much more comfortable with playing in these high-stress situations.



Then came their match against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and, along with it, a complete shift in the momentum of the team. It was a match that UNC thought they couldn’t lose. When I spoke to Jerred Miklowcic, aka UNCJer, about the match, he stated that they were extremely confident about the match. In fact, they were so confident, their Grandmaster player played his offrace. However, WPI came at their opponent with everything they had. Hubris got best of UNC’s star player as he fell to a well timed all-in by WPI’s LeeTDooD. After going on to win their 2v2 game, WPI pushed it to an ace match between their most recent addition to the lineup, iMpPhantaxx, and UNCJer. One can only imagine the feelings of excitement, pride, and relief that the entire team must have felt as they saw “gg wp” pop up on their screens. They had done it! They, a team of twelve loses with one win, had defeated the giant that was UNC, a team which no one ever would have predicted to lose that match.



From there on, they continued to be an unstoppable force in their games, going 4-0 in their last four games. They even managed to defeat Princeton University, a team that went 12-4 in their regular season, without dropping a single game. Though this streak was an amazing accomplishment for the team, they sadly did not make it into the play-offs. However, they had made their mark. They had shown the rest of the teams in the CSL that they were not a team to be underestimated and that they would be back with that same drive and dedication to win next season.



The lead up to this season has been an interesting one for WPI. With their former coordinator graduating, WPI’s status in the CSL was very up in the air until a few months ago. With no strong leader from last year’s team taking charge, Arten Esa took over coordination of the team. In regards to his involvement in the team before, he said, “I joined around January of last year, but that was a little too late to get into it.” He stated that he hung out all of the active people in the WPI Battle.net channel; however, players from the team last year just started becoming inactive. Therefore, with only one or two people coming back from last year’s roster, he’s almost having to start from scratch with this season’s team. However, that doesn’t make him or anyone else rest of the team any less passionate going into this season. The team continues on with a mission best exemplified with a quote from Lydia Johnston, “We have shown that we can win some matches now, so let’s try and win as many as we can.”





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Dont forget to watch our upcoming show match as well on Oct 22-23

+ Show Spoiler + http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=375977 In the game of Starcraft II, sometimes it is truly our passion that makes us persevere through the toughest of times. Our passion for the game can drive us to make a desperate comeback against a foe that has all but defeated us. It can compel us to keep trying, even in the face of an endless string of defeats. For Worcester Polytechnic Institute, it did exactly that. With an overall record of 6 – 12 last season, they can easily be blown off as just another team that couldn’t hang with the big dogs. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. With some truly inspiring wins last season, WPI is a team that we can all learn from. Coming from humble beginnings, they built something to behold; and that’s a tradition they intend to continue going into this season.Coming into their first season, the team’s main objective was just to get people involved. Lydia Johnston, one of the team members from last year, said that their coordinator, Michael Solano, “wanted to focus on getting people to play.” For him, competing in the CSL wasn’t about winning or losing; it was about giving everyone that wanted to play for their school an outlet to do so. According to Johnston, “[their coordinator] was always really spirited and upbeat.” His perspective of perseverance always shined through in his e-mails to the team. In an message sent as they were 0-8 and about to face Tufts University, Solano wrote “This is it. Our time to shine! We have one last week in the first half of the season to get a win! Who is available and wants to play this Thursday at 9 against Tufts?” This is a prime example of his both the unyielding positivity that he spread throughout the team and his continued efforts to let everyone get a chance to fight under the banner of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.With all this passion, WPI seems like they would be an extremely tough team to break; but last season surely gave its best effort. To say that WPI had a tough first few opponents would be the biggest understatement that I’ve ever professionally written. In their first match, they squared off against Dalhousie University, a team that only lost one game in the regular season. Following that, they played Harvard University, CSL’s overall third place team of last season. Though the season got easier from there, they still struggled in their matches. Many of them went to the ace match, without a dedicated ace player. Thomas DeSilva, another player from last season, said that it came down to the question of “Who wants to play another [game]?” This all changed when Howie Robichaud, aka iMpPhantaxx, joined the team at the beginning the second part of the season. With a dedicated ace and a win in their final game of 2011 against Virginia Commonwealth University, WPI went into the second part of the season with increased moral and a drive to win against all odds.Though their focus of never excluding anyone that wanted to play was never let go, Solano said at the beginning of the season that they were fighting for their lives at this point. They now had to start winning games in order to make it to the playoffs. He said that everyone was welcome to play, but he really wanted those who had success in their matches in the CSL to step up to bat. From there on, their players got more consistent. While they lost their next two games against Yale University and the University of South Carolina, their players were becoming much more comfortable with playing in these high-stress situations.Then came their match against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and, along with it, a complete shift in the momentum of the team. It was a match that UNC thought they couldn’t lose. When I spoke to Jerred Miklowcic, aka UNCJer, about the match, he stated that they were extremely confident about the match. In fact, they were so confident, their Grandmaster player played his offrace. However, WPI came at their opponent with everything they had. Hubris got best of UNC’s star player as he fell to a well timed all-in by WPI’s LeeTDooD. After going on to win their 2v2 game, WPI pushed it to an ace match between their most recent addition to the lineup, iMpPhantaxx, and UNCJer. One can only imagine the feelings of excitement, pride, and relief that the entire team must have felt as they saw “gg wp” pop up on their screens. They had done it! They, a team of twelve loses with one win, had defeated the giant that was UNC, a team which no one ever would have predicted to lose that match.From there on, they continued to be an unstoppable force in their games, going 4-0 in their last four games. They even managed to defeat Princeton University, a team that went 12-4 in their regular season, without dropping a single game. Though this streak was an amazing accomplishment for the team, they sadly did not make it into the play-offs. However, they had made their mark. They had shown the rest of the teams in the CSL that they were not a team to be underestimated and that they would be back with that same drive and dedication to win next season.The lead up to this season has been an interesting one for WPI. With their former coordinator graduating, WPI’s status in the CSL was very up in the air until a few months ago. With no strong leader from last year’s team taking charge, Arten Esa took over coordination of the team. In regards to his involvement in the team before, he said, “I joined around January of last year, but that was a little too late to get into it.” He stated that he hung out all of the active people in the WPI Battle.net channel; however, players from the team last year just started becoming inactive. Therefore, with only one or two people coming back from last year’s roster, he’s almost having to start from scratch with this season’s team. However, that doesn’t make him or anyone else rest of the team any less passionate going into this season. The team continues on with a mission best exemplified with a quote from Lydia Johnston, “We have shown that we can win some matches now, so let’s try and win as many as we can.”Be sure to keep up with all of the informationDont forget to watch our upcoming show match as well on Oct 22-23 Collegiate Starleague - cstarleague.com