Eight Teams, Two Players Earn Spot to 2025 CECC May Madness Through Last Chance Qualifiers
Stamford, CT – April 9, 2025 – Eight teams from seven different schools and two individual players participated and won the Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup (CECC) Last Chance Qualifiers to earn their spots in the CECC May Madness 2025 tournament.
CECC May Madness, established in 2022, gives 84 teams in four different game titles (Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Valorant, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) and 12 players in Street Fighter 6, a chance to face other schools from across North America and one team or player in each game are crowned as national champions.
The CECC Last Chance Qualifiers, which took place online over two weeks between Mar. 24-Apr. 4, featured 160 teams from across the nation competing in Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Valorant, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and featured 22 players in Street Fighter 6 . Each game title’s competition played in two different single-elimination brackets, meaning eight teams and two players from Street Fighter 6 would qualify to CECC May Madness.
Winthrop University would earn the most bids by having two teams win their competitions. In bracket 1 of Valorant as the No. 1 seed, Winthrop would only drop one map in the semifinals of their four-match run and would defeat Fisher College in the grand finals 2-0, earning the team’s third-straight appearance in CECC. The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team, the defending CECC May Madness Champions, went in as the No. 1 seed in bracket 2 and would not drop a single set in their three-match run, defeating the University of Texas, Dallas (UT Dallas) in the best-of-three grand finals 2-0, also earning the team’s third-straight appearance in CECC May Madness.
Also in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, bracket 1’s No. 1 seed Fisher went on to a similar pace as Winthrop, not dropping a set in their three-match run and defeated Wichita State University in the grand finals 2-0. With the qualification for the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team, the program is now the only one currently that has qualified for all four of the team games in CECC May Madness (Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Valorant, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)
In bracket 2 of Valorant, No. 2 seed Baker College would play three matches, two of them landing in 2-1 series victories, en-route to a grand finals appearance against No. 8 seed Siena Heights University, who upset the No. 1 seed Northwood 2-1 in the quarterfinals and No. 5 seed University of Indiana 2-1 in the semifinals. The grand finals would also go to a 2-1 series, but it landed in a victory for Baker which gives the program their first appearance in CECC May Madness in any competition.
In Rocket League, St. Clair College, No. 1 seed in bracket 1, did not drop a single game in three best-of-seven matches leading up to the grand finals until playing against Cumberland University, where they dropped two games, but still went on to win the series 4-2 and earn the team’s second-straight victory in a last-chance qualifier bracket. In bracket 2, No. 1 Northwood University made the grand finals, but did not have the perfect run up to it as St. Clair, winning 4-2 in the quarterfinals and 4-3 in the semifinals. In the grand finals, Northwood defeated No. 3 seed Davenport 4-2 to earn the team’s third appearance in CECC May Madness.
In bracket 1 of Overwatch 2, No. 2 seed Maryville University would go perfect in three best-of-five matches leading up to the grand finals match against No. 1 seed Northwood. While they did drop their first map of the bracket in this series, Maryville went on to win the series 3-1 to earn the team’s third bid and second bid through the last chance qualifier. In bracket 2, No. 1 seed University of California, Irvine made a perfect run through the entire bracket, including the grand finals where they swept the series against No. 2 seed UT Dallas 3-0 and earned the team’s second straight bid.
For the first time in last chance qualifier history, Street Fighter 6 was played and it featured 22 players across two brackets in a best-of-five series single-elimination bracket. In bracket 1, No. 4 seed RGPrime from Miami University would sweep all of the competition, going a perfect 9-0 total in-game record and sweeping No. 3 Abbs from Fisher 3-0. In bracket 2, No. 1 seed Bloo from Florida International University would sweep the quarterfinals match, won 3-1 in the semifinals, and in the grand finals against No. 2 seed Hokuto from Fisher, won in a full series 3-2.
With the victories, the eight teams and two players earned their bids to CECC May Madness 2025, set to take place May 2-4 at Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas, renowned as the largest in-person scholastic esports event in North America. The 2024 event attracted over 4 million views and 4,100 attendees, and the upcoming 2025 event marks the fifth year of CECC's celebration of collegiate esports excellence.
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Article Written by:
Keegan Ohta
