Although Oakland University Esports is a relatively new addition to their Division I athletics program, Head Coach Carl Leone and his four teams are going for gold this fall season. The teams: Overwatch 2, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, League of Legends and Rocket League compete for OU in the D1 American Esports Conference, NACE.
Out of the four teams, only two made the playoffs — LOL and SSBU. The Rocket League team went 4-4 in the regular season and did not make playoffs, meanwhile, the OW2 team was eliminated from contention by Wichita State University in a 3-1 loss in Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) match.
On the LOL side, the five players from Oakland entered the playoffs as the thirteenth seed but fell to St. Clair College — a Canadian school — in a 2-0 loss.
“Our LOL team has so much potential and I’m excited to see them continue to improve going into the Winter semester,” Coach Leone said.
Super Smash Brothers Ultimate — a primarily-casual fighting game that features several characters from classic Nintendo video games and beyond — has proven to have the most potential for a stellar end for OU’s fall esports season, according to Coach Leone.
“This team is a true contender for the national championship. Our confidence and focus have never been higher. Our recent win in the CECC Midwest Championship over our rival Northwood has only given us more motivation to succeed,” Coach Leone said. “[Last Tuesday] we took down fellow Horizon League school Cleveland State in a 2-0 sweep. We play a strong Akron team next week and I think we are ready for it.”
I sat down and talked with four players and two alternates of OU’s SSBU Varsity team during a practice session last Thursday to understand their thoughts on the season as a whole, as well as to touch on their growth from the beginning of the season at Riptide.
“We’re still gonna be wary about it, I know they have a really good Ken named ‘Sytonix,’ he’s definitely on our radar,” sophomore “Min Min” player, Pablo Avila, said.
OU’s “Cloud” player, sophomore Anthony “AnthonyIsntCool” Codd, also expressed worry about the upcoming match vs. Akron, but did not seem too concerned. “A lot of members on our team are familiar with their characters and their playstyle, so I think we can do good,” Codd said.
Robby a.k.a. “Rob.” Rabinowitz, the captain of OU’s SSBU varsity squad, emphasized the importance of hard work and how success for the team can be achieved in this late season play.
“Our season so far has been fruitful, I’d say. We’ve exceeded expectations and we’re excited to keep exceeding them in our match with Akron next week as well,” Rabinowitz said. “We are prepping and looking forward to the postseason, and [nationals] that are coming up in May as well.”
OU’s SSBU team plays in round two of the NACE playoffs versus Akron University Tuesday, November 20. More information about the full esports teams and their rosters can be found at goldengrizzlies.com/sports/esports.
