USF Esports goes from unknown to underdog

The University of St. Francis’ (USF) Esports team has been an ever growing part of the university. The esports team started three years ago with only 12 students. It has since grown over the years to now 36 students. This year the Esports team has eight total teams playing across five different games. These games include “Fortnite”, “Super Smash Bros”, “Marvel Rivals” and “Rocket League”.

“We also support other games in the lab. In the past I have had teams in ‘Valorant’, ‘Overwatch’ and ‘Call of Duty’,” Esports Director Steven Wettergren said. “Really our games change each season depending on the league as well as student interest and talent.” 

While offering various game titles, competition is not the only focus of the Esports team. Other focuses include team building, bettering team work skills and camaraderie, as well as communication.

 “What you get is that ability to kind of learn how to work well together and all the skills we try to develop within esports,” Wettergren stated. “It's teamwork, it’s communication and competition, you know. How do you go and be a leader and also how do you follow because not everyone can lead all the time.” 

The esports lounge offers open labs a couple times a week to allow students to play some games and try out the equipment. In the future there could be an area for more casual play and another area for more competitive play for those who just want a relaxed experience while also offering a space for students who want to play more competitively. 

In regards to the team itself they have had an extremely impressive year thus far. They have an expectation of at least four teams to make the playoffs with a possibility of it getting to six out of the eight total teams. Currently the “Rocket League” team has already qualified for playoffs with a huge victory over the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a team in the Big 10. For “Super Smash Bros” at least one squad should make the playoffs with our “Fortnite” trios team currently ranked third of 86 total teams looking to also land in the playoffs. Lastly, two squads for “Fortnite” duos both have a chance to make the playoffs in a possible semifinals match to land a spot in the playoffs. 

This season for the players has been different in comparison to years prior as due to the increase in players each game has more than one team now, such as the Super Smash Brothers team which has an A and B team. 

“We rank third in our division going into playoffs which is quite the accomplishment,” Bella Tellez said. With a playoff birth in sight for many of the E-Sports teams they are excited and prepared for the upcoming challenges ahead. 

“So all in all in any given season we would have one or two teams make it in this season we might have six,” Wettergren said. 

For the long term future of the team and program they are looking into becoming more of a student draw to university as a whole. They want to give future opportunities for possible scholarships among other opportunities currently offered at the university. Many high schools have their own esports team and the university wants to become more of a draw to those students who have a competitive background and want to continue that in college. 

The team is hoping to continue its growth as last year they had about one team for each game and just a year later they have about two teams per game meaning more opportunities for players to show off their skills.

“Especially for smash bros in general we’ve gotten a lot of interest as well as fortnite I think we used to have one duos and one trios team now we have two duos and two trios teams,” Tellez said. “And I think there is going to continue to be a lot of growth for the program.” 

If you want to keep up with the USF Esports team you can check out their socials on Facebook @USF ESports and @fightingsaintsesports on Instagram. We hope to see positive updates as their season continues and hopefully see some amazing results in the playoffs.

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