Auburn, ME – The Mustangs Esports Valorant team had its run towards back-to-back ECAC Division C national championships ended in the quarterfinals with a 2-1 loss to #2 seed John Brown University. The Mustangs took map one 13-8 for a big advantage in the best-of-three match but could not close it out. The Golden Eagles responded to take the final two rounds 13-11 and 13-10 to avoid the upset at the hands of the #10 seed. JBU now moves on to the semifinals to face Heidelberg University.
While the team fell short of defending its title from the fall semester, the slightly reworked squad did have a good run through the final month of the year, proving to be a tough out in the bracket. The members of the 2024 Fall Championship winning squad also got together during the week to receive their medals and the ECAC trophy.
The Call of Duty team continued its run in the ECAC Division A playoffs, beating #1 seeded Texas A&M International University 4-1 in the semifinals. The Mustangs doubled up in map one hardpoint 250-125 before the Dustdevils tied the match at 1-1 with a 6-2 victory in search and destroy. Central Maine took map three control 3-0 and finished off the best-of-seven series with another dominating performance on hardpoint, 250-120. CMCC will now face the Fisher College varsity team for the ECAC national title on Friday, April 18th.
Meanwhile, the squad's run in the College COD League national tournament is over after being eliminated this weekend on day two. The #17 seeded Mustangs started the double-elimination tournament off with a nail-biting 3-2 loss to Wichita State University in the opening round of the 32-team bracket. Central Maine excelled in hardpoint taking both map one 250-175 and map four 250-230 to face a winner-take-all battle in search and destroy, but the Shockers took it and the match with a 6-5 win.
That put a daunting task in front of them, knowing they would need to win six straight matches to move on to the national semifinals hosted in San Antonio, TX. The team got to work, first facing off again with Texas A&M International and beating them 3-1 to stay alive. Next was a 3-1 upset victory to eliminate #6 Cal State University-Northridge followed by a 3-0 win over #19 Concordia University-St. Paul.
The Mustangs were halfway there but ran into one of the favorites for the national championship, #4 Oklahoma Christian University. The Eagles became the first team of the entire bracket to defeat the Mustangs on hardpoint, taking map one 250-140 on their way to a 3-0 sweep. Oklahoma Christian would win its next two matches to move on to the final four.
CMCC ends its stellar CCL campaign with a top 12 finish and spent the whole season ranked in the top ten nationally.
The Mustangs Esports season is winding down. Call of Duty's run in the ECAC bracket is the last official competition remaining, but the Super Smash Bros Ultimate team will play a LAN event later this month in Maine Esports Conference competition.
