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Hilltop Views
The Student News Site of St. Edward's University

Hilltop Views
The Student News Site of St. Edward's University

Hilltop Views

GAME DAY: Esports’ Call of Duty team’s regular season ends in last-minute forfeit

Hailey Womack, Staff Writer • October 23, 2023
Hailey Womack / Hilltop Views
The team is focused on winning the playoffs starting in November. “To be honest, regular season has never been a problem for the team, so usually eyes are always set on playoffs from the beginning. We want to win the tournament,” Mauricio “Thresh” Pallares said.

The Call of Duty esports team’s regular season came to an abrupt end on Oct. 18 when Eastern Michigan University forfeited the match within an hour of scheduled game time.

“Now this isn’t our first win as a program via forfeit, but with it being the last match of the regular season, it’s really upsetting that they just couldn’t make their players play just one more match to end the season,” sophomore David “Eons” Sauseda said. “We’re really just looking forward to playoffs which is in a couple weeks and to be honest, the forfeit is a blessing in disguise because we will, hopefully, have our captain Johnny Albano back by the time playoffs start.”

Due to team captain Johnny “Vanity” Albano’s absence for a concussion, graduate student Dominik “Dommerz” Barela filled in for him.

“(Barela) did fulfill his role very well when he was here so I appreciate him for stepping in,” freshman Lucas “Ballah” Muccio said. “But having Johnny back will give our light back that we had before, and we’ll be able to lock in.”

Albano is itching to be cleared to play with his team again. 

“Honestly, just looking forward to getting back on the map with my teammates and helping them win, obviously playing with my teammate David who I’ve played with for the last two years, my bash brother, just looking forward to that,” Vanity said.

The team ended the season with a 6-1 record, with the only loss being to Oklahoma Christian University. St Edward’s ranks second in the Western-Central Division, with Oklahoma Christian University undefeated at first with a 7-0 record.

“Very excited to get our rematch for teams like Oklahoma Christian – also other good teams in the NACE (Starleague) will be Cumberland and St. Clair – so very excited to have matches like that within the top four, top five teams and really test ourselves for good competition,” Ballah said. 

Cumberland and St. Clair are currently undefeated, with respective 7-0 and 8-0 standings.

Despite the forfeit, the team stays optimistic and is looking forward to playoffs starting soon.

“Watching ourselves kind of just mesh together with our new player Lucas and seeing how he can fit in our roster and how we’ve improved already from last year, and how we can keep growing into the next year,” Vanity said. 

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About the Contributor
Hailey Womack
Hailey Womack, News Editor
Hailey Womack is a junior English major with a minor in Journalism & Digital Media. This is her third semester with Hilltop Views and her first year as News Editor. She's very passionate about the Austin area, as she has been a native all of her life. When not reading romantic period books, she enjoys playing basketball.