Gabriel Torres

Staff Writer

The ESU Esports’ fall season is coming to a close.

The club has come along way since their inception in 2017, with more than 70 members and five official esports teams.

“The club has grown more than 500% since last year,” said Club President Joshua “Swyperr” Weiss. “I honestly never expected this to happen, not this suddenly at least.”

The club contains a Valorant team, a Rocket League team, two League of Legends teams, and an Overwatch team. Each team is currently competing in the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) against other universities and their esports teams.

Each team is placed in a division in accordance with their activation games. There are about four divisions: Champions, Challengers, Emergents, and Navigators; with an exception being Overwatch which contains a Legend division.

The number of teams in each division can vary but only the top 8 are able to qualify for playoffs. The last games of the season will be played this week with no final date on when the post season will begin.

• League of Legends Team A have considered leaving the NECC and transferring into a more competitive division, such as CLOL, Riot Game’s official collegiate esports league.
• The return of Overwatch Team captain Jeremy “Disabato” Disabato is still unclear as his Air Force duties could have him doing boot camp during the spring semester.
• The Valorant Team will be holding tryouts in the spring semester due to an increase in player interest.
• League of Legends Team B are looking to send members up into the team A and acquire new faces for the spring season
• The Rocket League Team are looking to expand into two teams.

League of Legends Team A is currently undefeated with a record of 7-0. The team was placed in the Navigators division and went into the season unexperienced.

“We thought we were going to lose,” said Weiss, who is also League A team captain.

But to their surprise, they ended up dominating the division without dropping a single game. Their dominance was tested during a series with Adrian College as the team was pushed to their limits to secure the 2-0 victory.

“We both had undefeated records going into the match,” said Weiss. “They got into our heads a bit calling us out on Instagram.”

The team is extremely dedicated to the game with the entire roster doing homework on every team they face. Their pre-game prowess in combination with every member being capable of carrying is enough to explain their overwhelming presence.

The team is looking to finish out the season with an 8-0 record and take home the championship.

The Overwatch team is also at the top of their division with an impressive 5-1-0 record. The team’s formation was rushed, which caused them to have 1-3 activation record. They placed in the Navigators division as well and were not projected to be anything more than an average contender.

They started off the season with a 0-3 loss to Valpo Beacon but ended up upsetting Baker University 2-1 in their second official match.

“It was truly a team effort.” captain Disabato said.

A majority of the team’s success stems from Jeremy’s ability to manage the team, making sure his teammates get in ample amounts of practice and making sure they have a plan when game day arrives.

“My first thought was to get everyone adjusted to playing with each other,” said Disabato. “I wanted to really emphasize teamplay.”

The team is looking to secure this week’s game as well as the championship later in the month.

The Valorant team had an average season with a record of 3-4 and are the only team in the club to play in the Emergents Division.

The team started off slow with an 0-2 record before the previous team captain, Jonathan “NulledNVoided” Hillanbrand, left to go help out League Team A. The rest of the season looked doomed before the addition of a new team captain and in-game-leader.

“We seemed kind of lost at that point,” said team captain Alex “Popperama” Young. “The team didn’t have a purpose, so we had to come together and talk things out.”

The team learns quick and is stacked with incredible talent, like star duelist Harsh “Dark” Patel, who is considered to be the ace of the team. The team is looking to finish their season with a 4-4 record and head into the playoffs with a winning mindset.

“Our record doesn’t show our true potential,” said Young. “We got robbed some matches. We definitely have what it takes to beat even the best teams.”

League Team B started out the season rough but were able to secure a playoff position as the number eight seed in the Navigators division. Their current record of 2-5 will have them playing against their sister team, League Team A, in the first round of playoffs.

“Winning the championship doesn’t seem realistic,” said team captain Charlie “BOnTheQuad” Brill. “We are just looking to go in with a competitive mindset. Hopefully we can take a game off of League Team A.”

The Rocket League Team had the worst start out of the club’s five teams, going on a five-game losing streak in the Navigators division until two weeks ago, where they picked up their first win. The team had trouble finding their groove due to a skill disparity between the three teammates.

“I expected too much out of my teammates in the beginning,” said team captain Dylan “Soleshine” DiLauro. “Instead of them adjusting to me, I should have adjusted to them, and that’s what I did.”

The team has not qualified for playoffs and is looking to finish the season with a 3-5 record. The team has also recruited two more members for the springs semester that are around the same skill level as the captain.

You can watch all of the games live on the club’s twitch channel, https://www.twitch.tv/esuesports.

Email Gabriel at:

gtorres4@live.esu.edu