RIVER FOREST, ILL. -- After fighting their way into the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) playoffs, the Concordia University Chicago Esports team has come out in third place. The Spring 2025 Overwatch team has faced numerous hurdles throughout the season, but closed the year with a 7-3 record, the most wins in program history. 

The Spring Overwatch Team started off the season with a 3-0 victory over Arkansas State University Trailblazers Blue before falling to Waynesburg University the following week. In the loss to the Hornets, the Cougars struggled on map one, but had a competitive game two on King's Row. Despite some fight, the team couldn't make a comeback and dropped the final game 3-0. In the loss, Connor Bleazard (Saint Joseph, Mo.), aka Bostino, found several angles to mount a fight back, but just couldn't bring it all together.  The team would see two wins by forfeit against University of North Carolina Wilmington and Carlow University Black, but in the mix would fall to Saint Vincent College 3-0. In the loss, every game was a close battle. The Cougars lost map one of B03 control, but took map two strong. In map three, the Cougars had a close back-and-forth battle before losing 100% to 85%. In game two, the squad came out swinging on King's Row, taking the start 2-0. Sadly, the team couldn't muster a strong defense and dropped game two 3-2. 

Following the loss, the Cougars would go on a 3-0 win streak highlighted by a win over King's College Gold. In the victory, the Cougars started on control with Lijiang Tower and came out roaring.l Perfect coordination between the tank, Bostino, and the DPS players Luis Cortes (Maywood, Ill.) aka Mr. Frong, and Connor Lewandowski (West Dundee, Ill.) aka Lewie gave the team a quick 2-0 win in the series. Bostino and Lewie led the charge with Bostino going 30-2 and Lewie going 28-2. In the second match, the team started on defense on King's Row and dropped 3-0 in a rough series of fights. But the team came fighting right back, getting all three points with four minutes to spare to force overtime. This time, the Cougars held fast on defense and took the victory 4-3 with clutch hits from the supports. Damian Avalos (Chicago, Ill.), aka Sen, and Jordan Burroughs aka SoulReaper. In game three, while up 2-0 in the series, the team went to push on Colleseo. With momentum on their side, the team never faltered in the entire game to take down King's College Gold in a quick four-minute map win to close the regular season.

Moving into NECC Playoffs, the Cougars were seeded six and were paired up with the three seed Clark University. In the quarterfinal match, the Cougars pulled the 3-0 upset. In the win, the Cougarsw took control of the first game and didn't lose control of Samoa for the control map. Lewie and SoulReaper led the team and did not go down once. Lewie went 16-0, doing 7k in damage, while SoulReaper went 10-19-0, doing 2.5k in damage and 3.5k in healing. In the second game, an escort on Rialto, the Cougars moved on with a 2-0 lead in the series. Once again, Lewie led the team going 34-0-2 while Bostino followed going 29-17-4 and Mr. Frong going 26-3-4. Push was on Colosseo and CUC sealed the series with a decisive 1-0. Sen was consistent in support, going 9-17-5 while Lewie had another incredible performance going 26-0-1 with 6k in damage. The Cougars would move on to take on Wayneburg for the second time this season, falling 3-0. While struggling against their aggressive play style, the Cougars would fall 0-2 on Samoa for game one. Despite having a few things going their way, the Cougars were unable to find stable footing. With the game one win for Waynesburg, they would continue to accelerate and take games two and three with scores of 3-0 and 1-0, respectively.  

Rounding out playoffs, the Cougars would take on SVC for the second time this season. CUC would once again come in as a six seed while SVC would be placed as a four seed. CUC would start with a control map on Busan and start the back-and-forth match, just as it was in their first meeting of the year. SVC would take a 1-0 lead in the series after a 2-1 game win in Busan. Despite Lewie and Mr. Frong going 30-011 with 14k in damage and 29-3-8 with 13k in damage, the Cougars would fall in game one. Right into Escort on Circuit Royal, the Cougars jumped out to a fast 3-0 game lead following the play-making ability of Bostino on tank. When Saint Vincent took offense, they rushed forward to grab two early points, but CUC held them for almost six minutes straight to take game two 3-2. Bostino went 37-4-7 with 18k in damage dealt and 14k damage blocked to level the series 1-1. On the third map of Push, SVC chose to play on Collesseo, forcing CUC to focus on coordination and teamwork. Sen, Mr. Frong, and Bostino used their combos to perfectly dismantle SVC and take the 1-0 win on the map to put the Cougars ahead in the series. Bostino went 38-3-4 with 12k in damage while Sen went 23-26-6 with 9k in healing while Mr. Frong went 22-3-4 with 8k in damage. Heading into game four, a flashpoint on Survasa, this would be the Cougars' first game four of the season. They would come out swinging with momentum to take the map 3-0. Perfect positioning and teamwork gave the Cougars a 3-1 lead in the series. CUC would take the final two points 100-0 to take home the game. SoulReaper's clutch saves consistently kept the team healthy with his steady healing to save several members as they got as low as seven hp to win their fights, going 9-21-3 to keep his team ready to keep going. Game five was back on Hybrid, on the familiar map of King's Row. CUC would defend first and hold SVC to just one point. With only two points needed, and SVC with their backs against the wall, SVC would win several early fights. The Cougars, with momentum on their side, pushed through with superior teamwork, taking the map 2-1 and winning the series 4-1 to secure third place. Lewie and Bostino had strong performances in the final game going 27-0-7 with 11k in damage and 37-11-6 with 20k in damage, respectively.

The Esports Overwatch team now waits to see if they have enough points to qualify for nationals. Updates on their push for nationals and all things CUC Esports can be found at cucougars.com or on X @CUCEsports.