The New England College Valorant esports team won the NECC Northeast Championship on Tuesday, April 10. The team, who won their first championship in Valorant, won the match against Montclair State University, taking three straight maps and winning with a total score of three to one.
The team started out on fire, winning seven straight matches clinching the one seed heading into the NECC Emergent playoffs where they won their semifinal game 2-0, taking both sets 13-6. Heading into the finals they kept the hot streak alive, winning 3-1 (7-13,13-2,13-11,13-10) and finishing the undefeated season.
“We worked a lot over the last term and this term to put ourselves in a position to win and that’s what we did,” said Sydney Bucci, the team captain, when asked about the season the team had. Although the perfect season didn’t come without trouble.
The team was discouraged after losing to Thomas College last year in the finals, and almost was unable to field a team before the spring season. Bucci went scrambling around, looking for other people who were interested in playing.
“It went from a last-minute scramble to probably one of the best Valorant teams this school has ever seen,” Bucci said.
The young team is now focused on the future as they prepare to play on the national stage. The team can be watched on the NECesports Twitch streaming channel or live in the Simon Arena as they take on the University of Maryland at 8 p.m. on Monday, April 15.