Despite a lack of sporting events, Marian University athletics has still seen a lot of action in the past couple of weeks through the newly introduced eSports team.
The Sabre eSports program was introduced just a couple of months ago in late March and has already been busy with action. Marian has competed in League of Legends, Overwatch, and Rocket League with all three competing well early on.
“Our program is off to a very strong start across every game we are offering,” commented head coach Danny Duchaj. “Not only are we showing that we can compete with high-level teams that have been around for three to four years, but we have also shown that we can win against them. The players that have been put into the varsity program that were originally in the club program have adapted well and shown amazing leadership.”
The early highlight for Sabre eSports was a second-place finish from the League of Legends team in their first collegiate tournament. The tournament consisted of eight squads, which was put together by Duchaj, where Marian fell to Bay State University in the championship match. The League of Legends team is also currently ranked fifth out of 11 teams in their current league and are making a final push for a playoff spot in two weeks.
The Overwatch squad is also involved with a league through GameOn Chicago and begins action later today. Some of the more familiar teams the Sabres will compete against include DePaul, Butler, and Illinois Tech. Rocket League continues to gear up for their season and has several scrimmages against one of the top Rocket League teams from last season in Central Methodist-Missouri.
With the current climate, being able to offer fans a chance to catch Sabre athletics in any capacity has been a humble experience for the eSports program.
“Even though schools across the United States, even the world, are in hectic times, we are trying to provide people the experience of still watching competition through our various programs,” commented Duchaj.
Marian eSports has also seen action or plans to compete in Fortnite, Apex Legends, Call of Duty, Rainbow 6 Siege, and Valorant.
The Sabres have a constant schedule of practice and games that all fans are welcome to watch through the Marian eSports Twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/marian_esports. By following the channel fans will be notified whenever the Sabres go live. Updates on the upcoming schedule and events can also be found on the Marian eSports Twitter page at https://twitter.com/EsportsMarian.
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