Year one of Esports at The Mount is in the books, and ended on the highest note possible, as standout freshman Erik Albanese took the ECC Smash 1v1 Championship at the Conference Finals! The live event took place at BrookLAN, fittingly in Brooklyn, and Erik was able to take the crown in front of friends, family, teammates, and fellow students across the many games hosting their finals at the event.

The culmination of a semester full of competition started with his semi-final match against NYIT's "RareLuke". RareLuke was a familiar face for the smash captain, as his teammate Bob Houk fell in 4 games to the Kirby player in the round of 16. Erik continued to expand his character pool and flex his strong fundamentals, playing Steve throughout the series, as opposed to his go-to Pac-Man. The games were hard fought, and RareLuke had an impressive showing with a low-tier character, but  MSMC "Yufine" took the series convincingly, sweeping NYIT out of the bracket with 2, 2, and 1 stock remaining at the end of each game.

Erik's finals opponent was Molloy University's "Torna", a familiar foe, with the two's competitive history pre-dating their college careers. Knowing the strength of his next opponent, as well as Torna's likely character, Sephiroth, Erik returned to playing Pac-Man. After a quick restart of game 1, due to items being left on, Erik quickly took control of the series, winning game 1 with 2 stocks remaining. Erik took Torna's last stock of the game with a perfect "apple throw" angle off-stage, which would becoming a theme of the series, as he followed up game two with the same result and same final hit! The moment was not too big, and the lights were not too bright for Erik, as on championship point, he shut down Torna's Sephiroth in under four minutes!

It may be year 1 of the Esports teams, but Erik's championship winning run will be almost impossible to match, let alone beat. Erik did not only go undefeated throughout the regular season and playoffs, but he only dropped a single GAME across all his matches. Erik defeated opponents from across the ECC, including students at Utica University, St. Thomas Aquinas University, D'Youville University, SJLI, and (unfortunately) his MSMC teammates during the regular season. "Erik's determination is unmatched, and I am so proud of him, and happy that all his hard work paid off with a championship!" added Coach Venard.

A perfect ending to a near-perfect season, and an early contribution from MSMC Esports to The Mount Athletics trophy cabinet!