Lakeland's Ackema Royes advanced the Lakers to the NJCAAE FIFA23 Finals with a 3-1 win over the Catawba Redhawks on Thursday (12/8). The finals will take place on Saturday night at 8:00 pm in C-2047. The game can also be watched at twitch.tv/Lakeland_esports

Game 1
Lakeland's Ackema Royes selects Parish Saint Germain while Catawba selects Barcelona. The game did not start well for the Lakers as the Redhawks took a commanding lead by scoring three first half goals. In the second half, the Redhawks continued to carry the play and added two goals while the Lakers only managed one and so fell by a score of 5-1.

Game 2
In game 2, Lakeland's Royes changed it up and selected Manchester United while Catawba stayed with Barcelona. The team and game adjustments worked for the Lakers as Royes dominated the game throughout. Lakeland scored four goals in the first half and added two more in the second half to finish with a convincing 6-0 victory to even the series at 1-1.

Game 3
The two competitiors stayed with the same teams as Lakeland selects Manchester United and Catawba selects Barcelona. Both teams tried to play a defensive battle to gain a series lead before Royes netted the games first goal at the 15 minute mark of the first half. The score would remain 1-0 through the end of the first period of play. The Lakers started off quickly in the second half as Royes scored twice early. From there, Royes locked Catawba down defensively and earned a 3-0 win and a 2-1 series advantage.

Game 4

The Lakers Ackema Royes again selects Manchester United while Catawba stays with Barcelona. Lakeland got the scoring started in the first half with a goal at the 14 minute mark. With Royes sensing an opportunity, he went for the win and used a high pressure offensive attack that enabled the Lakers to gain a 4-0 halftime lead. In the second half, Lakeland adjusted defensively to focus on getting the game and series win. Both teams netted two goals and the Lakers won the game by a final of 6-2 and the series 3-1.