Carlos Murguia of Erskine Wins Inaugural Conference Carolinas Esports FIFA Invitational Title
GREENVILLE, S.C. – The inaugural esports Conference Carolinas FIFA Invitational needed extra time to determine a winner with Erskine’s Carlos Murguia taking home the title.
Murguia had entered the grand final needing just to win once, but Belmont Abbey’s Jordan Caro pushed Murguia to make a tactical change to secure the title.
Playing as Manchester City, Caro, behind a hat trick from Gabriel Jesus, collected a thrilling 6-5 win over Murguia’s Liverpool in the first game of the grand final to force a second game. In the second game, Murguia and Caro ended the match tied up at 4-all.
The tie in the decisive match forced an extra half of play to determine the overall champion. Murguia decided to switch from Liverpool to Real Madrid and the decision led to him emerging as the winner of the 2022 Conference Carolinas FIFA Invitational. Real Madrid won 2-0 in the extra half to give Murguia the first Conference Carolinas esports title for Erskine.
The FIFA Invitational marked Conference Carolinas’ fourth esports championship. Bryce Witt of Chowan won the inaugural Madden Invitational in 2020 with Barton’s Austin Hetter taking the title in 2021. Last year, Conference Carolinas held an NBA 2K21 championship with Deante Shackleford of Belmont Abbey securing the title.
Conference Carolinas partners with Launch Esports for its esports championships.
Established in March 2021, Launch Esports is a joint venture of Mainline and Steel Planet Esports, that combines leading Esports tournament software, operations and production with sponsorship and Esports rights representations. Based in Houston, Texas, Mainline is the leader in college Esports software and tournament management. Steel Planet Esports is a sister company of Steel Curtain U, which manages multimedia rights for 19 conferences and governing bodies at the NCAA Division II, NAIA and junior college levels. Together as Launch Esports, they are providing college conferences turnkey Esports solutions to build their Esports programs.
Conference Carolinas is leading the way in the endeavor and was one of the first conferences to utilize Launch Esports.
2022 Conference Carolinas Esports FIFA Invitational Finals Winner
Carlos Murguia, Erskine
2022 Conference Carolinas Esports FIFA Invitational Finals Participants
Barton
Kieran Guillory
Jesus Zarate
Belmont Abbey
Tommy Wood
Jordan Caro
Erskine
Jenkins Peeler
Carlos Murguia
King
Austin Pantaleo
Jarrett Joles