Newburgh, NY- Despite both Rocket League and League of Legends having bye weeks, it was an incredible week for MSMC Esports, with the Smash team earning a massive win over Skyline rivals Saint Joseph's-Long Island and securing their spot in the playoffs! 

Wednesday started with the 1v1 bracket as it always does, and Erik Albanese earned another win this week to move to 4-0 in his group. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of teammate Axel Hernandez, who fell to 1-3. While the team kill was unfortunate, Axel would play a crucial role in the crews match later in the evening. Elsewhere in the 1v1 bracket, Bob Houk is 1-3, while Parker Giudice fell to 2-2.

Game 1 of the crews match versus SJLI started at 9, a later start than normal, but the change in routine didn't slow down the Knights out of the gate. Axel opened the game for MSMC on Bowser, and while he was incredibly close, was unable to take a stock off SJLI's Mario. Freshman standout Erik Albanese went in second, and SJLI experienced the fate other school's have faced this semester already against his Pac-Man. Erik took all 9 stocks off SJLI, all while only losing 1. 

Erik opened game 2 for the Knights with another impressive performance, taking 7 stocks off of SJLI before losing his 3rd. Axel stepped in second for the Knights, and was able to take 1 of the 2 remaining stocks off SJLI's strongest player, who was on Piranha Plant. Parker Giudice was the 3rd player for MSMC this game, and while he got SJLI to the brink of defeat, taking the plant to above 100% damage, a clutch final stock won the game for the Golden Eagles and brought us to a game 3.

Axel opened game 3 the same way he opened game 1, and was able to take 5 STOCKS off SJLI, completely removing their Sora player from the series, and taking the same Mario player he played game 1 down to their last stock. Bob Houk stepped in second and was able to knock the final stock off SJLI's 2nd player with some flawless Jigglypuff gameplay. SJLI had 3 stocks and 1 player left to take Bob's 2 remaining stocks, before having to contend with Erik waiting in the wings as MSMC's 3rd. Bob held his own, but SJLI's Piranha Plant kept all 3 stocks heading into a final meeting with Erik for the game, and the series.

It was a back-and-forth affair, with Erik taking the 1st stock off the Plant before losing 1 shortly after. Erik was able to take another stock while taking minimal damage to bring SJLI to their last gasp in the series. While on his second stock, Erik was able to put more than 80% on the Plant, before finally being brought down to his own last stock. Last game, last stock, in a rivalry game, with playoffs on the line, and like he's done so many times in his first semester already, Erik pulled through. A fire hydrant to the face of an extremely damaged plant was enough to secure the stock, the win, and the postseason for the Knights. The energy in the Esports Center after the win was electric, with the Smash team and members of the League team that had stayed to support their program mates. 

Playoffs are secured for the Knights, but there's still 1 more regular season match to go on November 1st against Florida State in a critical match for seeding. The Mount's opponent in the conference quarterfinals is yet to be determined, but they will be from Group B in the conference, which consists of Molloy University, New York Institute of Technology, Southern New Hampshire University, D'Youville University, and Utica University (Utica fielded 2 teams).