Esports Program Riding High After Wins; Looking to Make Playoff Runs
Esports was officially added to the list of St. Lawrence University varsity sports in 2020. Since then, the program has attracted many students interested in turning a hobby with friends into collegiate competition. This semester, the program is fielding rosters for five different titles including Valorant, Overwatch, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and League of Legends (the esports coordinator is also looking to add Fortnite as a competitive title, responding to student interest). After completing a series of activation (placement) matches, each team has been placed into competitive divisions within the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC).
This past week, the Rocket League team triumphed over both New Jersey City University as well as Army West Point in a 3–1 series and 3 – 0 sweep, respectively. The Rocket League team has seen a lot of growth over the past year, adding new, invested players to their roster. The Valorant team continued their impressive win streak, remaining undefeated in their division with 2 – 0 wins over both Cornell University and Trent University.
I asked one of the team’s players, Sirus Minovi ’25, about how he was feeling about the season so far. He responded that “the team is firing on all cylinders this year.” All the team’s players are “performing incredibly well individually,” and he thinks the communication and shot calling is “immaculate.” When I asked him whether he thought the division they were in was too easy, he said, “every game [is] challenging enough for the wins to feel rewarding, and team morale is at an all-time high.”
The Overwatch team was less fortunate, with losses to both University of Southern Maine and Centre College. The Overwatch team was unable to compete last semester due to a lack of players. This semester, the team is looking to get their feet under them, with help from an alum of the Class of ’23 serving as coach, and make some real strides this season.
The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team also faced difficult opponents in Southern New Hampshire University as well as Assumption University. The team has expanded a great deal this past semester, with the addition of new players as well as a new coach.
The League of Legends team similarly lost to Southern New Hampshire University, and to College of the Holy Cross, the top two teams in their division. The team is looking to come back strong in their next game against Trent University on Friday.
Everyone in the Esports program wishes all the teams the best of luck in their upcoming matches, and the esports coordinator, Kadin deRuijter, has high hopes for all the titles to make playoff runs this season. For all titles, match day games are streamed on St. Lawrence University’s Twitch channel, www.twitch.tv/stlawrenceuniversity, and are sports casted by players on other teams, as well as interested community members. This system, along with the use of a shared space for practices and games, allows the program to have many titles, and a diverse group of student athletes, while still feeling like one team.