Pride Valorant team makes major strides to in-person event success
DUBUQUE, Iowa - The Pride Esports Valorant team was recently crowned the Midwest Esports Conference Champions after pulling off a reverse sweep in the Grand Finals to win their first-ever in-person LAN competition and first Valorant trophy in program history.
In September, the Pride esports program travelled to Des Moines, Iowa to compete in the Midwest Esports Conference's Fall Clash. The Pride had recently joined the MEC this Fall as one of their new competitive conferences for the 2023-2024 season.
Starting Saturday Sept. 16 and continuing through Sunday Sept. 17, the Pride Valorant team consisting of Spencer Cavaco, Tawan Khwanthongim, Kyle Caruso, Kevin Nguyen, Phat Nguyen, and Michael Pettke were one of the eight schools competing out of Franklin Junior High School's event complex.
The Pride started off the Fall Clash taking on Simpson College, Southwest Baptist University, and Ohio Northern University on Saturday, where the Pride was able to pick up victories against each respective university, giving them a 3-0 record heading into Sunday.
The Pride stumbled in their opening match on Sunday against Briar Cliff University, taking their first loss of the Fall Clash, but got right back on track afterwards by winning out their remaining matches against Miami University - Ohio, Cornell College, and Cleveland State University.
With the round-robin concluded, the Pride finished with a 6-1 series record and 52-round differential, putting them as the first seed overall heading into the playoffs. In their first-round matchup against Ohio Northern, the Pride played a close series but could not close it out and were knocked down to the loser's bracket, where they would go up against Briar Cliff once again.
Looking to take revenge from their loss earlier that day, the Pride dominated BCU and picked up the win to move onto the Loser's Finals. Taking on Miami - Ohio once again, the Pride played another solid game and took another victory to send them to the Grand Finals, where they would once again face off against Ohio Northern.
In the final series, the Pride started out slow, but were able to claw their way back to a very competitive game, but just fell short in the end to not close out the first match and would eventually fall victim to lose the series 0-2 for a second place finish.
Following the Fall Clash, the MEC regular season got off to a quick start the following week, with the Pride's first matches against Simpson College and Southwest Baptist University as the squad was able to take two convincing wins, to start off the season with a 2-0 record.
Moving into the next weeks of matches, the Pride were up against the Fall Clash winners in Ohio Northern University, alongside Briar Cliff University, Miami University - Ohio, and Cornell College. Our team unfortunately lost a competitive series against Ohio Northern, and had to forfeit their series against Miami, but were able to take down both Briar Cliff and Cornell to end the regular season with a 5-2 record, placing them as the second seed heading into the playoff bracket.
The first-round matchup was against Cornell College saw the Pride pick up another dominant win, advancing them to the Winner's Semifinal match against Briar Cliff. After a back-and-forth series, the Pride ended up falling short in the end, and getting sent to the Loser's Bracket to take on Cleveland State University. After a strong victory CU qualified for the championship LAN, and would eventually face off against Miami University in the Loser's Semifinal.
On November 11th, the Pride travelled to Westville, Indiana to compete in the MEC Fall Championship hosted on Purdue University - Northwest's campus. The team of Cavaco, Khwanthongyim, Caruso, Kevin Nguyen, Pettke, and Phat Nguyen were ready to fight their way to the Grand Finals.
Prior to the start of the LAN competition that weekend, the MEC announced their All-Conference teams. Kevin Nguyen was awarded Third Team All-Conference in his role as a Controller, Phat Nguyen was award Second Team All-Conference in his role as an Initiator, and Khwanthongyim, Cavaco, and Caruso were awarded First Team All-Conference in their roles as Duelist, Controller, and Initiator, respectively. The Pride were the only team to have all 5 members of their roster selected for an All-Conference team.
In their first series of the weekend, the Pride played an incredibly strong series against Miami - Ohio, picking up their first victory of the weekend. Moving onto the Loser's Finals, the Pride were once again up against their rivals in Briar Cliff as they once again claimed victory, knocking Briar Cliff out of the tournament and advancing themselves to the Grand Finals, where the undefeated Ohio Northern awaited them.
At the start of the series, the Pride would eventually go down 0-2 in map count, with Ohio Northern only needing one final map to take home first place. The Pride, however, would not go down without a fight, and clawed their way back to an even 2-2 score after close games that went the distance. In the end, the Pride were able to reverse-sweep Ohio Northern to be crowned the MEC Fall Champions, winning the first-ever Valorant championship title for Clarke Esports.
After the Grand Finals match, the MEC awarded Cavaco as the Finals MVP for his performance throughout the series. Caruso was also awarded Rookie of the Year for his performance throughout the entire season.