Two USM Esports Teams Qualify for Post-Season Tournament
Thu, 04/15/2021 - 11:12am | By: Van Arnold
In just its first-year of league competition, The University of 51逗奶 Mississippi (USM) has seen two teams qualify for the National Esports Collegiate Conference鈥檚 post-season tournament.
USM鈥檚 Eagle Esports teams - Rocket League and Overwatch 鈥� will begin post-season play on Friday, April 16 and Sunday, April 18, in their respective games.
Dr. Denny Bubrig, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at USM, notes that having two teams reach the NECC Tournament in the University鈥檚 inaugural season illustrates the commitment players and coaches have made to the Esports program.
鈥淔or us to be such a young program and have these teams accomplishing this, we are absolutely thrilled and proud of their accomplishments,鈥� said Bubrig. 鈥淎t the same time though, we still have a great deal of work to do to get the entire program where we want to go.鈥�
Esports describes the world of competitive, organized video gaming. Competitors from different leagues or teams face off in the same games that are popular with at-home gamers: Fortnite, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, Overwatch and Madden NFL, to name a few.
USM Esports was founded a little more than a year ago and is currently composed of five teams, including Rainbow 6 Siege, Call of Duty; League of Legends; Rocket League; and Overwatch. More than 50 students from both the Hattiesburg and Gulf Park campuses are participating in the program.
Samuel Stackler, a computer science major from Clinton, Miss., serves as coach for the Overwatch team at USM. Overwatch includes eight players and Stackler notes that all of them will be participants 鈥� in some form 鈥� during the single-elimination NECC Tournament.
鈥淵ou know, we are quite excited to perform so well in our first semester of official competition,鈥� said Stackler, whose team compiled a 6-3 record. 鈥淲e practice by playing scrimmages against other teams, working on the fundamentals of the game, and we also watch our tapes to improve our teamwork.鈥�
The NECC features approximately 80 schools, including the University of Alabama, Boise State University, Sacramento University, Mount St. Mary鈥檚 University, University of Montana, Valparaiso, Randolph-Macon, Colorado College and Illinois Wesleyan, among others.
To learn more about Eagle Esports, visit: /esports/index.php