HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Harrisburg University Storm continue their dominance as one of the top Esports teams in the country. The Storm won the Overwatch finals to take home their third National Association of College Esports (NACE) title in school history. The team defeated Illinois State in three sets. Coach Jack Kaplan says the goal is to always go in and get the job done.
"Our expectation is to win every year," said Kaplan "That is the precedent we have set and going into every season our goal is to come out with a win."
The Harrisburg storm sport one of the most heavily invested in Esports teams in the country giving out 22 scholarships per year. Junior Adrian Kawa is one of the critical pieces to the Overwatch squad.
"I think our team and our roster has a lot of experience on it when you look at someone like elk being in the Overwatch league he brings a lot of experience to our team and our coms system and how we play," said Kawa "I guess we just have a bunch of really good players and really good mechanically players like our DS line they came from Europe they are really good, and we just have a lot of good players."
Kawa says another key to their success is how much they practice and rely on each other. Kaplan gives the the free reign to go in and make certain decisions on strategies.
"So for me one of my kind of values is to integrate the players as much as possible," said Kaplan "So when we are thinking about strategies we want to do that they are comfortable with it and they feel confident in those strategies as much as I do."
Junior Adrian Kawa says the team also welcomes the target on their back.
"There might be a little bit of pressure with being at the top but that is kind of the price to pay to be the best," said Kawa "You just got to roll with it and try to keep going."
The Storm look to eventually branch out into other games such as Rocket League