OXFORD, Ohio – A pair of Northeastern varsity Esports squads competed at the Esports Collegiate (ESC) spring championships this past weekend at the University of Miami (OH) – the varsity Overwatch 2 team was able to defend its spring 2024 title, taking their second straight ESC championship, while the varsity League of Legends team made a valiant run to the championship round.
 
Overwatch 2:
In a battle of the Huskies, #2-seeded Northeastern Overwatch got off to a rocking start going 3-0 over #7 NIU in a repeat of their final regular season game – they moved on to another strong showing in the winner's semis on Friday, sweeping a 3-0 series over #3 Kent State. Game three of the Kent State series saw a lengthy overtime period that was eventually capped off by a huge final team fight with double kills for Carter 'Hedwig' Williams and Declan 'Ducklin' Scully to send Northeastern to the winner's finals.
 
After falling 3-1 to #1 Ball State to get knocked down into the loser's finals on Saturday, Northeastern responded with a tight 3-2 series win over host school Miami Ohio. The Huskies took game one in a control sweep on Lijiang Tower, and went up 2-0 after a strong hold on Monastery escort. After dropping two maps to the Red Hawks, the Huskies bounced back in the series-deciding game five on King's Row. Northeastern was unable to get a full push, only collecting two points on offense, but the defense came to life to force overtime, led by high-level tank play of Max 'Frisco' Innes on Ramattra.
 
This set up a rematch in the best-of-7 grand finals with #1 Ball State. The series was a roller coaster, with both teams trading maps after a BSU map one control win, followed by a series-tying Kings Row win for NU. After a 2-1 lead for Ball State, the Huskies once again tied things up with a map four control win. Down to their last map, tied 1-1 on control, Northeastern claimed the second control point to win map six and force the tournament-deciding map seven. Starting on offense on Numbani, the Huskies got a strong push collecting all three points with 3:41 still left in the time bank. A strong defensive showing held Ball State at bay until overtime, until the Cardinals collected the third point in overtime, forcing a second push for both teams. Northeastern began the second round with a full hold on the first point, needing to just capture 53% of the first point in just under four and a half minutes. Nearly the entire first minute of the round was one continuous team fight, which eventually ended in Northeastern's favor, capturing the point with 2:50 left on the clock.
 
The ESC Championship for Northeastern Overwatch clinches their automatic bid to the Collegiate Esports Commissioner's Cup (CECC) national tournament, taking place in Arlington, Texas on May 1st-4th.
 
The title win is Northeastern's second in a row for the Overwatch 2 team, and continues a streak of at least one ESC title in the last five academic years.
 
2020-21: League of Legends
2021-22: Overwatch
2022-23: League of Legends
2023-24 (x2): Valorant, Overwatch 2
2024-25: Overwatch 2
 
League of Legends:
Looking to build in its 2023 spring success in which they won a title, the new-look Husky League of Legends squad entered the weekend as the #3 seed in the tournament. Northeastern opened the tournament strong with a 3-1 series win over Kent State, featuring a strong game one performance from Derica 'Bliwss' Zhang with 10 kills and 24 assists. After KSU took game three to spoil the sweep, Northeastern got a speedy 24-minute win, leading 24-7 in kills, to move on to the semifinals to face #2 Miami (OH).
 
After a back-and-forth game one with Miami, the Redhawks were able to get a back door victory in game one to stun the Huskies. Miami carried that momentum with strong top lane play to lead the series 2-0. Northeastern looked to lock in on Miami's top laner, targeting their champion pool in the draft stage and forcing top side pressure with good jungling from BokutoUchiha on Xin Zhao, supporting NU top-laner Jisung in the matchup to equalize the series at 2-2. With a pretty even gold distribution between the two teams late in game five, Northeastern took baron and pushed lanes into the Miami base. Jisung got a huge pick top lane which allowed the rest of the team to push the final nexus turret, eventually taking down the nexus to advance to the Sunday finals.
 
In the final round, Northeastern met the tournament #1 seed, and national #19 team Ball State. The Huskies held their own for most of game, a late BSU split push in game one and a strong team fight in game two put the Cardinals up 2-0 in the series. Game three went much smoother for BSU, with a 5k gold lead and 6-0 turret lead at 26 minutes, culminating in dominant team fight in the top lane which went in favor of the Cardinals, allowing BSU to march into NU's base, which was already half destroyed by a simultaneous bottom lane split push, taking the finals with a clean 3-0 sweep.