The University of New Haven offers something of interest to everyone on this campus. It may seem difficult to find people with the same interests, but you have a good chance of finding someone just like you, even if it might be in the smallest place on campus.

With all of the sports that New Haven offers, one that commonly gets swept under the rug is eSports. Despite having their own designated area for varsity teams, the recognition that club teams receive is often minimal.

Tucked away in a small room in Harugari Hall, there is a group of friends with a common interest who defied the odds and came away with a win in a highly competitive tournament against other schools. New Haven’s Super Smash Bros. club team shocked their competition by mounting a huge comeback in the grand finals of the Quinnipiac Invitational to come out on top and celebrate their accomplishments.

“We’re kind of a rag-tag team,” said Alex Fishler, an undeclared freshman. “We’re in a room with one television playing and there’s nothing that the school gives to us, so to come away with a win with such a small team feels great and maybe we could get some recognition.”

The win was a huge boost to the overall morale of the team, teamwork and strategizing of when to implement certain players to bring themselves within striking distance.

“It was a really hard decision between two of our players, Snowcone and Kal,” said Marc Marino, a senior music and sound recording major. “Snowcone felt that Kaleon should go in and we sort of banked in on that. It took us a really long time to come to that agreement, but it really was a perfect way that we could’ve made that happen.”

The decision between sophomore business management major Noah Iott, also known as “Snowcone” and freshman business major Kaleon Chen, going under the name “Kal” in the grand finals, was one that helped deliver the tournament win. Chen was able to complete the comeback for New Haven as they came away with the win as huge underdogs.

The team is always looking to improve and compete in every match they have. The bond that they share is a key factor behind their success, helping them communicate with each other and have a good attitude has helped bring them to their recent success.
With every match, their team gets stronger and they are able to adjust their play and fix any shortcomings they have to compete with any team that stands in front of them. “Overall, I think at the end it was such an experience to actually be able to compete, and winning was one of the best feelings for us,” said Iott.

“It was such a good feeling to know that the time and effort we put in was worth it,” said Iott. “We’re very proud to represent the University of New Haven for that and it was such an experience and I’m very glad everyone on the team was able to perform very well that night.”