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Lakeland Omega Strikers Team Wins National Championship

Nov. 15, 2023

Lakeland鈥檚 Esports program struck gold this past weekend as the Omega Strikers team won the inaugural Collegiate Corestrike League and were crowned National Champions.

The Muskies entered the playoffs as the nation鈥檚 No. 2 seed in the Collegiate Core Striker League (CCL) and were poised for a deep playoff run.

An Omega Strikers team consists of three players, a forward, a midfielder and a goalie. Lakeland鈥檚 team of three consists of junior forward Ethan Jacqaurt (E T han), junior midfielder Christian Yang (MnnMouse) and junior goalie Nicholas Sorenson (Soren).

Omega Strikers consists of two teams of three players who fight to score by sending the Core, a large hockey puck, into the opponent鈥檚 goal. Players can choose from a cast of characters each who have a unique set of abilities which can be used to attack enemy players, move the Core, buff allies, debuff enemies and more.

After a first-round bye in the double-elimination tournament, Lakeland quickly beat the York Spartan Strikers 2-0 to move on to round 3, where the Muskies were upset by No. 11-seed George Mason University.

Lakeland would need a perfect run through the loser鈥檚 bracket to set up a chance to win the tournament, and that鈥檚 exactly what happened.

After a dominant 2-0 win over New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), next up was Wake Forest University, which proved to be one of Lakeland鈥檚 hardest games. The Muskies finished off Wake Forest to reach the loser鈥檚 bracket quarterfinals as day one of the tournament concluded.

Day 2 started off with Lakeland posting a big 2-1 win over UCLA Esports to advance to the semifinals. The Muskies then defeated the University of Houston (UH Premiere), 2-1, to reach the loser鈥檚 bracket finals and a date with rival Saint Louis University, which has become the biggest rivalry in the CCL.

Lakeland stormed past SLU with a decisive 2-0 victory and, following eight hours of competition, earned a chance to compete in the Grand Finals for a national championship.

Motivated by their impressive run through the loser鈥檚 bracket, the Muskies posted back-to-back 2-0 wins over UT Dallas Esports to win the national title.

鈥淏y the time our team played its way through the loser鈥檚 bracket, we had great momentum and were not going to be denied this championship,鈥� said Lakeland Esports Head Coach Brett Sheldon.

鈥淭he amount of work and effort this team has put in to get to this point is hard to express. I am incredibly proud of them for all that they have accomplished.鈥�

with the Muskies following their championship win.