The St. Lawrence University varsity Esports are ready to get back into action after a successful week of introductions, team bonding, and season preparation.

This upcoming season will pose a stretch of new challenges as this academic year comes packed with a few new rule changes for the collegiate Esports ecosystem, which includes a Fearless Draft system for League of Legends, and a brand-new regional format for Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Nonetheless, the student athletes are looking forward to the competitive season, which will begin on Monday, September 22, after a week of placement matches to best determine which division our teams will match up against their competition. 

This upcoming season we welcome John Player as the new Esports Graduate Assistant, who will specifically be handling the title Overwatch. John coming from Champlain College as a highly accomplished Overwatch veteran means many eyes will turn towards this young team as most recently, St. Lawrence Overwatch was the first title to secure a regional championship for St. Lawrence University this past spring. 

"For the first time in my career here at St. Lawrence, I feel our program is ahead of the curb," said Esports Coordinator, Kadin deRuijter. "We started earlier this semester, incorporated a few more team bonding variants into practice, and have added a few unique elements, like mentorship pairings, to scaffold our student-athlete development"

Matches begin in two weeks with game day format as follows: Valorant on Monday, Super Smash Bros on Tuesday, Rocket League on Wednesday, League of Legends on Thursday, and Overwatch on Friday.

All games are expected to begin at either 6:00 pm or 7:00 pm EST throughout the week, with the final seasonal schedule expected to be released the week of September 22. Games will be streamed on Twitch.