Auburn, ME – Mustangs Esports wrapped up its spring semester of play on Wednesday night. There were nine teams represented in ECAC play with 46 total gamers involved in competition. The program also earned two more trophies to wrap up the year.
"Overall, there were some good improvements across the board," said Esports head coach Michael Brown. "We were able to get several teams past the first round of bracket play and had four teams total reach playoffs. Plus, it's always nice to take home some hardware."
Marvel Rivals led the way in the second semester, claiming both of those trophies. The team led by captain, Andrew "Nxjang" Bishop, and regulars Isamiil "Okami" Hassan, Ethan "M0kie" Lemont, Ryan "cryshina" Lunzaga, Hassan "FlawlessMusa" Moussa, Piper "ImmortalFern" Selkow, and Leticionna "LadyRein" Dalton (plus tournament subs Maing "Urabsent" Tang and Jamie "C0rnFl4kes" Cole) captured the 2026 MECA title at the Maine Mayhem LAN event hosted by Husson University. The team followed that up by finishing runners-up for the ECAC Division C Championship.
As the #7 seed going into playoffs, Marvel Rivals made a run to the grand finals after beating #10 Russell Sage College 3-0 in the first round, upsetting RIT 3-1 in the quarterfinals, and knocking off #3 seed Schreiner University 3-0 in the semis. The team had their run ended by #4 Messiah University, who took the best of seven with a clean sweep of 4-0. Okami, a top-500 player, helped spark the upset run playing support with Invisible Woman, Jeff, and Gambit. The team is expected to return most of its squad next fall.
Valorant, the program's most recent ECAC championship winner from fall 2025, reemerged as a team after being absent in the fall. The team of Jacob "prolify" Auger, team captain, Morgan "Papimorg" Waltz, Ryan "Quatro" Lunzaga, Abdalla "Chudlite" Aden, Hassan "FlawlessMusa" Moussa, and Will "LeviathanBreaker" Jaskiewcz reached postseason play as the final team to get into the single-elimination bracket. The #12 seeded Mustangs upset #5 Saint Joseph's University 2-1 in the first round but were knocked out by #4 Trine University in the quarterfinals.
Rocket League was the only title to feature two teams for Mustangs Esports. The ECAC Division C squad of Morgan "Papimorg" Waltz, captain, Maing "Urabsent" Tang, and Lucas "FatFluffyDude99" Bragdon qualified for playoffs as the #9 seed and took down #8 Salisbury University in a wild first round battle. The Mustangs prevailed 4-3 over an underrated Salisbury squad whose only two losses in the semester had come via forfeits. CMCC was defeated by #1 seed and eventual champion Nichols College in the quarterfinals.
The second Rocket League squad made up of Ben "benhuman." Krebs (captain), Samuel "2.7tt" Fortin, Mars "Celentix" McBey, and Rikka "Yuno" Orr also reached their postseason bracket as the #14 seed but were eliminated by #3 Nelson University in the first round.
Matthew "Xpectid" Stubenrod once again represented the program in NBA 2K26 but could not book a second playoff spot to match the fall semester. He ended the spring just outside qualification with a 3-4 overall record in 32nd place.
Overwatch 2 also ended the season with a 3-4 record. The team made up of Jamie "C0rnFl4kes" Cole (captain), Leticionna "LadyRein" Dalton, Tristan "Mr.Brightside" Bannister, Brandon "Teddyzttv" Welch, Nolan "GalaxyKid" Kay, and Andrew "Nxjang" Bishop finished tenth overall and fifth in Group 1 to just miss out on the playoff bracket, being knocked out in a winner-moves-on, last-week battle with Muskingum University.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate had the squad that played in the highest division of the semester, competing in ECAC Division B for the second straight semester. The team of Riley "abyss" Hammer (captain), Timothy "Leedle572" Cutting, Aaron "Alphabot" Obert, and Peter "shadow974" Parent finished 2-5 overall in group one, with three of the four players moving up from the fall semester SSBU second team.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 featured a squad made up of relatively new esports players with Izzy "Izzysimmons" Simmons captaining a group that included Phillip "Tsuki" Espenscheid, Jayden "YxvngCeo" Brown, Jonathan "Kakkoi" McDonald, as well as subs Elijah "ThundaPug" Burkhardt and Tulebari "Fresh" Monday from the Track and Field team. The group made progress over the season but ultimately missed out on the postseason for ECAC Division D with a 2-5 record.
Rounding things out was Teamfight Tactics with Reid "silkyostrich" Maxim in ECAC Division C. He had a highest finish of 3rd in the week one battle royale but missed out on the top-16 cutoff for playoffs, ending the season in 22nd place.
