Bloomfield, NJ - The Bears League team took their first loss of the season in a highly contested series against the University of Albany, 2-1 in their second best-of-three series. Game 1 saw an even back and forth between Bloomfield and UAlbany across the map. While the game saw 54 kills between the two teams (30-24 in favor of Bloomfield) in the almost 38 minute match, it wasn't until the 33rd minute mark where the Bears found their chance to strike. A catch onto the UAlbany's bot lane Cassiopeia lead to Bloomfield winning a fight around Baron, taking the buff and never letting go of the advantage they had achieved. The Bears took the next dragon, sieged down the mid lane, and aced the UAlbany team to take Game 1.
In Game 2, the Bears got rolling in the early game through their bot lane getting three early kills and it looked to get the team in good position to sweep the series. UAlbany, however answered back quickly, taking three kills of their own in the bot lane. While Bloomfield would hold the lead in terms of kills throughout the contest (28-22), UAlbany was slowly picking away at the Bears' objectives and created constant pressure that the UAlbany squad would take advantage of. Multiple members of the Bloomfield team were needed to address the UAlbany top lane Fiora and while Bloomfield was able to battle back and take all the dragons of the game, the pressure through the UAlbany solo lanes would prove the difference. Their mid lane Azir dealt the necessary damage in most team fights while the top lane Fiora drew in pressure around the map leading to UAlbany getting Baron and acing Bloomfield outside their base at the 34 minute mark to take Game 2.
The deciding Game 3 saw another back and forth affair this time however would see the UAlbany squad with the early lead. Two kills onto their jungle Sett and a two thousand gold lead within the first 10 minutes had them out to a good lead. The Bears however came crawling back with kills picked up in numerous team fights around the mid lane and around the dragon pit getting the gold and the dragons slayed on both sides even within three minutes. From there, UAlbany had a repeat of Game 2 and used their pressure around the map to take objectives and slowly chipped away at the Bears' base. The Bears again wouldn't go away easily. At the 23 minute mark, they caught out the Albany top laner and won a fight around Baron which they would eventually take and they looked to stall out Albany and force them to fight them head on. UAlbany's plan would eventually take effect, catching out Bloomfield while moving around the map leading to the ace 35 minutes into the game and UAlbany taking the series, 2-1. While Bloomfield would have the advantage in kills across the series (80-68), UAlbany's objective control around the map proved to be the difference maker especially in their wins.
The Bears next best-of-three match is Friday, February 21st against the University of Albany's second team at 8pm. Catch the action LIVE by clicking HERE.
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