UNI Panther Esports teams are in full-swing participating in Spring leagues for “Overwatch,” “League of Legends” and “Call of Duty.” “Overwatch” is competing in Tespa, an international competition in which over 800 schools from the U.S. and Canada compete for $57,000 in prize money. “League of Legends” is competing in GGLeagues, a region-based league in which UNI plays predominately against other teams in Iowa and teams from neighboring states. These teams battle it out at the end of the season to claim bragging rights for the best in the state. Last, “Call of Duty” competes in the Collegiate “Call of Duty” League (CCL). This league comprises 72 schools across the U.S. split into four regions.

The Panther “Call of Duty” team is primed to make it into the playoffs as their regular season winds down. They currently sit at 9-5 after a 3-0 sweep of Robert Morris University Monday night. That record is currently good enough for 8th place in their region, putting them just on the better side of the playoff cutoff. As it sits now, the only team that the Panthers will have to fend off looks to be the University of Illinois who sits at 8-5.

With wins this season against University of Iowa, Bowling Green and Butler, Player and Coach Charlie “Dorno” Dorn is confident about UNI’s playoff hopes.

“I feel like after beating both Butler and Bowling Green, who are ranked, [we] solidified our spot in the playoffs. Now we just have to see what else we are capable of and see how far of a run we can make,” he said.

After a top-64 finish in Tespa last year, the UNI “Overwatch” team currently sits at a 1-2 record with losses to University of Illinois, University of Minnesota and a forfeit win against University of Incarnate Word last Sunday.

With the recent introduction of rotating hero pools every week, the “Overwatch” team will need to keep on their toes and adapt to the changing metas. The “Overwatch” team plays Sundays at 7 p.m. They will be traveling to Hawkeye Community College on April 4 and 5 for the Iowa Collegiate LAN. They will also be traveling on April 18 and 19 to Iowa State University for the ISU Open LAN.

Fall of 2019 saw the UNI League of Legends (LoL) team finish second in the region, falling to Morningside College in the finals match hosted in Iowa City. After the second rout this year against University of Iowa on Tuesday night, the Panthers sit at 3-2. They also boast a win against Waldorf College.

“We had a good solid win going into spring break, so I am excited to see the work that we have been putting in pay off,” said Jared “Hein” Charnas after their win Tuesday. The League of Legends team plays at 9 p.m. on Tuesday nights.

You can catch all of our matches live at twitch.tv/uni_panther_esports. If you can’t make it live, be sure to watch our past broadcasts on our YouTube channel. If you are interested in joining the club or playing on a competitive team, weekly meetings are held on Tuesday nights at 6 p.m. in the State College room of Maucker Union.