The first week of the CSL has finished, find out what happened in the Western Conference!

Week 1: Western Conference

Following the individual tournament and pre-season exhibitions, the colleges and universities of North America are finally getting back into the CSL+ routine. The Western Conference winners last season (UC San Diego) proved that their appearance in the grand finals was no fluke with a 3-0 trouncing of Cal Poly. Last season's other playoff teams, however, have put up less impressive results. Semifinalists UC Irvine and UVic both breezed through week 1 with byes, but quarterfinalists Arizona State and Northern Illinois both fell 0-3, with ASU losing to UC Riverside and Northern Illinois to University of Michigan. Other dominating performances were demonstrated by Northwestern, Purdue, Ohio State, Texas A&M, University of North Texas, USC, University of British Columbia, UC Berkeley, and Harvey Mudd College.

Meanwhile, Oregon State, University of Tennessee, and Caltech squeaked out 3-2 wins. University of Tennessee overcame a 2-1 deficit when Scott Stephenson aka uT)opia tore apart Protoss and Terran bases with vultures in two straight games. Oregon State's ace match was handled speedily by fan favorite Geoff Robinson aka [OrSt]inc. A ling runby from Robinson kept Carleton College's Seongwu Han busy while Robinson teched to mutas, and when the mutas arrived the trio of lings had done enough damage (killing over 10 probes and 2 pylons) that the game was already decided. Although Caltech was down 1-2 after Daniel Chen aka cds.Saracen was taken out by a ZvZ 4 pool on outsider, Chen recovered to take down the ace match, a ZvP on Moon Glaive. After Chen denied the Protoss third base with a muta-lurker-hydra combination, he tore through the natural expansion and won the game with a charge into the main.

Next week, the Western Conference will undoubtedly heat up with a match between UCSD and Berkeley. Meanwhile, Arizona State will try to get back into their playoff-worthy playstyle against USC. University of Washington comes off a bye week ready to tangle with UC Riverside, who took down ASU 3-0. Carleton College and Rice University both come off tough 3-2 losses and have a tough road ahead, matched up in week 2 against Texas A&M and University of North Texas, respectively. (Both Texas schools 3-0'd their opponents in week 1) After a first week that featured proxy factories, 4 pools and ling runbys along with a good dose of standard play, it's a sure bet that the Western Conference will deliver an entertaining week 2. Stay tuned!