Esports win 2022 Valorant National Championship

It was a dominating performance as the Finlandia University Esports team for Valorant (9-7) beat British Columbia Marine (14-1) 3-0 (13-3, 13-7, 13-2) for the NECC National Championship in the Navigators Division.

This is the first national championship for the Esports program, which finished their second season.  It’s the third national title for Lions athletics, the first in 18 years.

BRITISH COLUMBIA (MARINE) (14-1) – W, 2-0

Game 1
Dominic “MrGuy” Barrette led the way early on for Finlandia, taking the early rounds in this best of five series. Sebastian “BASH” Kemppainen kept the same energy he had carried throughout the rounds earlier in the tournament. The entire Lions team carried the torch taking a 10-0 lead to start the game. FinnU takes map one, 13-3 in a dominant fashion.

Game 2
For the second game, UBC Marine put some pressure on with the rounds going back and forth. The first half of the game ended 8-4 with Finlandia in the lead. The Lions were firing on all cylinders with Kemppainen at the helm once again, dominating the slaying. FinnU closed out the game 13-7 to be just one win away from the title.

Game 3
With an opportunity to sweep their way to a National Championship, Finlandia came out of the gate running, taking the first five rounds.  British Columbia Marine couldn’t figure out how to stop the Lions. The communication was on point for FinnU as Kemppainen went on an absolute tear across the map.

Play after play, Finlandia was able to take advantage of mistakes and put themselves in the right positions to capitalize. After losing an early series to UBC Marine in the playoffs, the Finlandia Lions were unstoppable in the National Finals taking the final game 13-2 to complete the sweep.

Dillion Farmer, Valorant Captain
“This is just a great feeling to bring home the national championship.  After we won Saturday night to advance to the final, we looked back at the last time we played UBC Marine.  We saw what we did right and figured out what we had to improve upon.  We really communicated well in the match today and felt very confident.

We got better as the season went on.  This was a team effort the whole way.  Anyone who played during the season for us helped win the title, not just the ones who competed today.”

Aaron Froelich – Director (Started the job, May 23).
“I am incredibly proud of this group of competitors. They played a long and challenging weekend, losing to UBC early on was a good wake up call for this team and pushed them towards the success they achieved. We have a couple of great seniors on this roster we are sad to see go, but the legacy and benchmark they have set for our program, will last for years to come.”

Article originally posted at fulions.com.