KEENE, N.H. – Keene State College Varsity Esports concluded its Fall 2025 regular season this past week, with their six rosters going a combined 27-16. Of its six teams, KSC VALORANT, Rocket League Academy Black and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate have advanced to their respective playoff brackets, to begin the week of November 17th.
Keene State Esports is a Varsity member of PlayVS College League (PCL). Formerly known as Playfly College Esports, PCL is one of the largest governing bodies of collegiate esports competition in the world. PCL sanctions competitions from colleges and universities across the United States and Canada, awarding scholarship money and hardware to successful teams each season (Fall and Spring).
KSC Esports teams compete in a regular season schedule and a playoff bracket, if they qualify. Divisions of play are divided into two categories: Premier and Ranked, with Premier being the highest level of play PCL offers. Premier competition includes scholarships and in-person end-of-season tournaments (known as LAN's). KSC's Varsity Rocket League and Overwatch 2 teams are designated for PCL Premier while KSC VALORANT, Academy Red and Black, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate compete in PCL Ranked.
All KSC Esports games are streamed on Twitch, at
twitch.tv/KeeneStateEsports and
twitch.tv/KeeneStateEsports2, as well as KSC Athletics' official YouTube page
youtube.com/@keenestateowls1909.
Keene State Rocket League
KSC Varsity Rocket League consisted of Alex "normal" Nimiroski, Andrew "Aurorxs" Sorcinelli and Jack "Jackattack16000" Manning. The team closed out their regular season with a 3-4 record. Needing a top three finish in their division to qualify for playoffs, they finished fifth.Losses came to George Mason University, Fisher College, Keiser University, and University of South Florida. Despite the losses, the squad hung tough in these matches against teams that boasted professional players among their rosters. KSC Varsity Rocket League will return to PCL Premier play for the Spring 2026 season.
Notable team highlights during the season included a game against Northwest Vista College on October 14th; one that was streamed live on PCL's Twitch channel. The Owls swept the Wildcats in the series, and in game two, scored nine goals while holding NVC to 0. The Owls outscored Northwest Vista 20-3 across the three games. An additional exciting moment for the team came in their season closer against the University of South Florida. In the first two games of the series, the Owls won 3-2; both games were decided in sudden-death overtime.
KSC Rocket League Academy Red's roster was team captain Eric "Twisty9" Carlo, Ryan "Dreamz" Morrison and Aidan "Maudlu" Law. RL Red had early season struggles, with a 3-1 loss to Lebanon Valley College and a 3-0 loss to Penn College to begin the season. The team would win the next three out of their final five games. The squad wrapped their regular season with a record of 3-4, finishing tied for fifth in PCL's Ranked 3 East division, missing out of the top 4 cut needed to qualify for post-season play. They will, however, compete in a consolation bracket beginning on Tuesday 11/18 against the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
One notable moment Coach McDermot outlined was in Academy Red's final stretch of the season, where they upset then-undefeated Grace College on October 21st.
McDermot said:
"One of my favorite moments came from the Academy Red team against Grace College. Coming into the game Grace was undefeated at 4-0, while we were struggling to find consistency and only managed to snag two wins for a 2-3 record. However, through a couple good practices leading up to the series the boys were able to find their footing and start to place some trust in the chemistry they have, putting them in a really good position going into this extremely important game. Throughout the series they played some of the best rocket league I've seen from them this season, and even with an internet outage in game 3 to kill their momentum they were able to keep their heads and take the series in five. "
KSC Rocket League Academy Black joined KSC Esports as its newest roster in Fall 2025; an extension of KSC Rocket League Academy, which was introduced the previous year. The team, composed of Sophomore Adam "Stylobiko" Albik, along with first-year recruits Owen "Slend' Burrill and Joe "Julio" Aste. The team started off with a hot 5-0 start with wins over New Jersey Institute of Technology, St. John's University, University of Cincinnati Z, Harrisburg University JV and Wilmington College. The Owls dropped two out of their last three games, losing to Seminole State College of Florida and Columbia International University. The squad finished their regular season with a record of 6-2, finishing third in PCL's Ranked 4 East division and securing a berth in the post-season.
Coach McDermot said of Rocket League Academy Black:
"While Academy Black is still very much locked into their playoff bracket, I hope they can make sure to address these issues early and prevent them from arising this playoff run. They have some excellent chemistry between the three of them and should be looking to maintain that throughout each upcoming series. Black hasn't dealt with the losses that Red and Varsity saw, so we should be looking to get ahead of any mistakes and plan to take them off the chin and move forward. As long as they can minimize their mistakes while accepting and learning from the ones that do happen, they should be able to take on any of the teams left in their bracket. There's some good competition across both divisions, so we'll have to wait and see where our seeding carries us."
Adam Albik made a point of acknowledging his coaches:
"Shoutout Coach Kev and Coach Tom for always keeping an eye out for what I do wrong, and giving me some way to correct it".
Rocket League Academy Black will compete in their PCL Quarterfinal match on Tuesday, November 18th against the University of Arkansas - Monticello at 8:30 PM EST.
Regarding the entire regular for all three KSC Rocket League Squads, McDermot said:
"Our biggest issue across all three teams this season has definitely been ourselves, we tend to let our mental get away from us which can cause a series to spiral out of control, turning an easy win into a tough loss. We need to trust our teammates, and play with a level head to fuel consistency that supports the faith our teammates have for us. As a coach this is also very much on my shoulders, I can only physically do so much on game days and should be looking to keep the vibes up while still delivering any gameplay advice I can find. It'll be something I look to improve on next season to help fuel deep playoff runs for all our teams. "
KSC Overwatch's roster included Tank players Matthew "Midas" Bonner and Shea "Hotpocket' Castriotta. Eli "Goofymcgoob" Volpini, Catch "TuT" Foss and Connor "HoodNut" Malone slotted in as damage players. Support players were team captain Korben "ShadowStorm" Robinson, Jack "Bladeefan2004" Holderby and Emily "DeathKitteh" Percy.
moved up a division between school years, going from PCL Ranked to PCL Premier: the highest level of play within PCL. This change meant going against some of the top Overwatch 2 teams in the country. This decision came from both the team's coaches as well as the team themselves accepting a new challenge following a school year wherein only two games were lost.
The season started off with three 3-0 sweeps of the Owls at the hands of Alvernia University, Michigan Tech, and Cincinnati. Despite the lopsided outcomes, KSC fought hard against these squads, securing small victories in their games such as teamfight and round wins. Two forfeit victories came against The College of New Jersey and Kennesaw State. In their final game of the regular season, the team faced off against University of Texas - Tyler, and the game was streamed live on the PCL Twitch channel in front of dozens of viewers. Keene State swept UTT 3-0 and finished their regular season with a 3-3 record, narrowly missing the top four cut needed to advance to the PCL Premier Round of 15 playoff bracket.
Reflecting on standout student-athletes from the season, Coach Mike Godzik stated:
"Its always hard to pick out a specific standout player for the roster because we focus on team synergy over standout performances and everybody has moments sprinkled between each game. I think Emily "DeathKitteh" Percy had a phenomenal first season with us and played a pivotal role in a lot of our success primarily through her Kiriko play. Kiriko is an extremely important support hero that requires precision and quick decision making"
Specifically regarding the aforementioned game against UT Tyler, Godzik stated:
"Eli (Goofymcgoob) had standout performances in both of those series through his Cassidy gameplay and stole the show. The casters were blown away by how quickly he could build his ultimate, Deadeye, and the value that he was able to acquire from it."
Keene State Overwatch 2 will spend their offseason continuing to improve and prepare for the Spring 2026 season. The team will decide whether they will remain in PCL Premier or move back down to the Ranked division.
"Despite this being the first season our team has not made playoffs, this was easily our strongest season as a team. For next season, we are not looking to reinvent the wheel with our strategies. Our focus will be to continue to improve our team synergy and to develop our skills on both the heroes we normally play and some new ones into the mix.:" - Godzik
Keene State VALORANT came into the season with a roster of returning student athletes, including team captain Hailey "HMeesh" Michaud, Jeremy "yerrei" Giguere, Ysaiah "YsaHolmes" Arezzo, Seldom "redblast" Vasquez, Nathan "ShotgunFreak67" Ruangturakid, Thomas "Chumbladorfian" Czwakiel. Gavin "Melatonin" Pierce and Hayden "H-Bass" Bassett joined the team as first-year recruits.
The team started off their Fall 2025 season extremely hot, winning their first seven games of the season, all of which were 2-0 victories. Opponents on the season included Butler University JV, King University, RIT Academy Lime, and more. The one blemish on the Owls season came in the final game of the season where they fell 2-1 to RIT Academy Yellow.
Team captain Hailey "HMeesh" Michaud said of the season:
"I am so proud of my team for all of the outside of practice work they have put in. Everyone has ranked up this season, and it shows in each person's gameplay and confidence every week."
With the loss, KSC VALORANT, ended their regular season 7-1, finishing tied with RIT Academy Yellow for first place in PCL Ranked 6 East division and qualifying for a playoff berth.
First-year newcomer
Gavin Pierce weighed in on his experience with the team thus far:
"My team is amazing, I love all my teammates and esports genuinely help me get set in college…Lastly I know I can be a lot sometimes so to be welcomed with such open arms means so much and I genuinely love this program.
Michaud echoed Pierce's sentiment:
"The team makes being in the facility feel like home. It's no longer random people playing a game together, but about close bonds being formed and amplified during game time."
KSC Valorant's quest for a championship begins in their PCL quarterfinal matchup, where they await 5-3 Chapman University on the evening of Thursday, November 20th.
Keene State Super Smash Bros. Ultimate came out of the Fall 2025 regular season having registered their most successful season in team history dating back to Spring 2024. With a roster of all returning players, the team was made up of: team captain Aidan "Sour" Zimmer, Tyler "Tadpole" Adkins, Matthew "Squidman" Silvestri", Jackson "Jackabot27" Schimpf, and Brody "ph4r0h" Freehling.
The team started off their campaign by defeating Immaculata University 2-0, and then dropped their second game 2-0 to St. John's University. The Owls then won their next four matches in a row, to improve to 5-1 on the season. In their final game of the season on November 7th, the Owls lost to Emerson College 2-0, and finished up their regular season with a 5-2 record, finishing third in the PCL Ranked 1 East A Division, and grabbing a playoff berth. The five wins breaks their previous record for most wins in a regular season, with three in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025.
Coach Aleksey Wirth spoke highly of the five students on his team:
"(I) wanted to mention how helpful Tyler "Tadpole" Adkins and Aidan "Sour" Zimmer have been in general for the team (behind the scenes type of support) and am happy to see the team come together during this season where the coaching rules for gameday changed [Wirth is referring to a rule change for the Fall 2025 season wherein coaches are no longer permitted to communicate with their team during active gameplay].
Student-Athlete Matthew "Squidman" Silvestri mentioned a highlight moment of the season being when teammate Jackson "Jackabot27" Schimpf singlehandedly took 19 out of a total 24 stocks against Norwich University on Sunday, October 12th.
Interim volunteer coach Star Delage had the following to say about Keene State Smash Bros' upcoming playoff run:
"In order to make a successful playoff run I think we just need to keep on trucking and keep our egos in check. Having a great season can lead to ego…so all we need to do is just treat it like any other game to keep our heads straight!"
Silvestri added to this by saying:
"To be successful, I think we need to calm down and just relax a bit. If we get stressed about doing great then we won't get far here. We just gotta remember that being here is already good."
Keene State SSBU begins their postseason run on Friday, November 21st at 7 PM against Glenville State University.
