Colleen Coleman-
On Wednesday, April 17th at 7:30 p.m., the Gustavus Esports team competed in the conference Valorant finals against Seattle University. The team also hosted a watch party in Beck, where the Gustavus community was welcomed to watch along in person as well as those who tuned in to the Twitch stream.
Gustavus Esports competes in the Open Plus division of the National Association for College Esports, alongside almost 200 other schools. Gustavus placed 11th in the conference alongside 15 other schools. With the Valorant team making it to the conference finals for the second season in a row, the Esports team is ecstatic for the opportunity to play. “Our Valorant team earned a 5-2 regular season and a spot in the playoffs with which we have defeated [the] University of Portland and [the] University of North Carolina Pembroke,” Director of Esports Evan Haldeman said.
“Our entire team is incredibly thankful we get the opportunity to play at this level, and we want to thank our program director Evan Haldeman and especially Gustavus as an institution for all the support they have given us,” Gustavus Esports member and Junior Gabe Gohman said. The team has had a very successful season on and off campus, with the Smash team also reaching the playoffs, and the group hosting many events and tournaments on campus. “After our 5-2 record in the main season, we’ve since battled our way to the finals where we hope for a repeat season championship,” Gohman said.
On and off campus, Esports has had a big renaissance in recent years. Having recently started up after an anonymous grant in 2020, Gustavus Esports has grown very popular and successful in recent years. Especially with the surge of online gaming with pandemic lockdowns, Esports have overall gained lots of recognition similar to physical sports across the globe.
If you missed viewing the match (and their WIN!) live, you are able to rewatch the stream and support the team on the eSports team’s Twitch channel.