After battling through an incredible losers run, St. Louis University (SLU) wins the CLOL 2024 Championship Finals by taking down Maryville University 3-1 in Grand Finals. The finals took place at Boise State Esports Arena in Boise, Idaho and also featured the CVAL 2024 Championship Finals.
The victory capped off a fantastic year for the SLU League of Legends team that saw a win in the Immortals Winter Showcase back in December. They were also the runners-up in the CLOL North Conference 2024 Playoffs, the Sixty Six Games Invitational 2023, and the HUE Invitational 2023.
Fighting to Make it to Boise
Although the finals took place this past weekend, the CLOL Championships began at the end of April with the start of the 32 team bracket. Schools from across the United States and Canada qualified to compete for the grand prize of $50,000.
St. Louis University seeded 2nd and started off strong with dominant wins. They swept Iona University and UC San Diego 2-0 and 3-0 respectively to make Top 8 and secure at least $10,000.
The team hit a wall, though, when they ran into St. Thomas University. The Bobcats stalked their prey and took down SLU 3-0. This created the biggest upset of the tournament to that point.
“Team vibes were shot,” said ‘Srtty‘, the team’s Top Laner. “I basically told them that we were skipping lots of steps in our play and too nervous given the level of who we were.”
“After we lost 3-0 we knew that we were lacking in a lot of aspects, mostly understanding the lane swaps,” remarked ‘DARKWINGS‘, the team’s Mid Laner. “We spent the next week trying our best to have good practice for our upcoming matches.”
That practice went to good use as SLU began turning their tournament luck. Their Losers Bracket run started with them down 0-2 against Ole Miss, another strong team that got upset in Top 8 against Northwood University.
With their backs against the wall, SLU willed themselves to a 3-2 reverse sweep to make it past Ole Miss. The rest of SLU’s Losers Bracket run went smoother, losing only two games as they took down Winthrop and Northwood. They then got their revenge against St. Thomas, advancing to the in-person Grand Finals against Maryville University.
Competing on the Biggest Stage in Collegiate Esports
SLU traveled up to Boise, Idaho for their LAN finals against Maryville. This would be their biggest match of the year. Despite coming in as the underdogs, the team didn’t let that pressure get to them.
When asked about how he was feeling going into those finals, Srtty confidently said he had “No nerves at all.”
DARKWINGS felt similarly going into the match. “It felt good to compete at CLOL finals, I felt some nerves right when I started playing, but as the series went on I felt more comfortable.”
Maryville University were coming off a great season of their own. Not only had they beaten SLU to win the North Conference 2024 Playoffs, but they also competed in the North American Challengers League Spring 2024.
The five game series started off with both teams taking a game. This left the finals tied going into game three. From there it was all SLU, as they took down Maryville 3-1 to win the CLOL Finals.
“I felt the most proud of the last game against MU,” said DARKWINGS. “In the last moments of the game. I landed a Taliyah combo on their ADC after we were in a bad position.”
Srtty left the series feeling incredibly proud of his team’s performance. “I’m just proud of my team for pulling through, that fourth game might be the one I was the most proud of. Everyone was freaking out on coms and I had to do a lot to keep them calm and focused on the next steps of the game.”
Building a Winning Program
We spoke with SLU’s esports director, Nick Chiu, to get his thoughts on what has made his program so successful both in and out of game.
“This was probably the most confident I’ve gone into a grand finals in program history,” Nick told us.
“Typically, I feel like the strong underdogs as we’ve gone to multiple grand finals in tournaments previously, but this one in particular felt like ours for the taking. Everything lined up, the losers bracket run, the story of beating Maryville (a school that mentored our program and is 20 minutes away from us), and the boys’ dedication to winning it all. The narrative outside the team may have been different, but internally I knew that it was our turn to win.”
The confidence that Nick held in his team wasn’t brought on by luck or coincidence. The entire structure of the program he’s built at St. Louis University is designed around winning first and foremost.
“Everyone is bought into winning. Not just the players, the entire staff too. Doing everything we can to make sure everyone is happy with everyone’s work ethic and also getting along not just as teammates but as friends as well.”
Despite the recent success SLU has seen, Nick isn’t satisfied with his progress so far.
“I don’t get to give my students everything they deserve in terms of resources. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that this program has those resources for the upcoming year so we can go back to back. But also I want to grow the entirety of the program. We have an amazing club on top of a stacked varsity team, and I want to make sure that the entire community is able to feel the importance of growing esports as a whole.”
Nick made it clear that it’s about more than just investing time together once the team has been made. He makes careful consideration to pick the best staff and players possible to build up a successful and competitive team.
“I’m also a big advocate of investing into the right people to make things happen. We’re not a large program. Our operating budgets are probably 10x smaller than every other school in the Top 8, but the players trust that I will do everything possible and sacrifice everything for the students. That’s trust that’s built, not forced.”
What’s Next After Winning CLOL
After a long school year, collegiate esports largely takes a break over the summer months. For Srtty, though, the summer is his time to prove himself outside the realm of collegiate competition.
When asked about his upcoming plans, Srtty was clear and confident about his lofty ambitions. “I am going to maintain Rank 1 all split, beat Maryville again on the 15th with FlyQuest Challengers, then win NACL.”
DARKWINGS will also be competing in North American Challengers League Summer 2024, though not with Srtty. He’ll be playing with Winthrop University, though he’ll still be attending St. Louis University. This odd arrangement came about after Winthrop lost their support going into NACL, so they recruited DARKWINGS for the summer.
Even with all the success they’ve achieved in-game, the players on SLU seem to have grown just as much out-of-game.
“We have all grown as people and teammates this year,” DARKWINGS said. “Personally I felt more of a growth in leadership and confidence in game.”
Srtty echoed the same sentiment. “We all improved a lot individually and learned about each others strengths and weaknesses. Being a team is about becoming a cohesive unit, we cover for one another.”
It’s clear that the program and its players have no plans to slow down. With their big win last weekend, only time will tell how much more they have in store.
