Loyola’s Esports team is a club sport that competes in the Northeastern Collegiate Conference (NECC). The NECC offers weekly competitive events in a variety of games, including but not limited to League of Legends, Overwatch 2, Valorant, Rocket League, and Marvel Rivals, and it works with over 400 universities throughout North America to ensure a positive collegiate Esports community.
The team has been on a strong winning streak. They started the season 4-0 in League of Legends, 3-2 in Overwatch 2, and 2-2 in Valorant. Loyola Esports has two separate teams for Rocket League and Marvel Rivals.
Ben Richardson ‘26, the head of marketing and communication for the team, went in depth on what these two teams are.
“We have two teams, the green and grey. Green is the average. I think everyone is like peak celestial, which is one of the highest ranks in the game. Loyola grey, you know, averages between like gold and plat, within that range,” Richardson said.
Marvel Rivals green squad is 3-1, and their grey squad is 2-1. The Rocket League’s green squad is 1-3, and their grey squad is 2-2.
The team has a classroom at the Fitness and Aquatic Center (FAC) where they have their meetings and play games.
“Loyola supports us in the sense that we have access and a room in the FAC. We’re currently set up there. We have two PCs up there right now, as well as our switches, and we have a big banner that says “Loyola Esports.” And the goal is to get more PCs during this semester,” Richardson said.
The team used to have a room inside of the Donnelly Science Center before being displaced due to the ongoing construction in the building.
“We used to be set up in Donnelly before they did their renovations. However, once they decided to do that, Loyola told us to exit. And so they kicked us out of Donnelly, sadly,” Richardson said.
Despite this setback, the team is actively looking for a larger space with a good number of computers for gaming on to call their permanent home.
The Esports team aims to increase awareness of their club among the classes of 2028 and 2029 so that more underclass students can get involved in the team’s work.
Andrew Nardiello ‘26, president of Loyola Esports, and Richardson both went abroad during their junior year last year, along with many other team members. This absence left the team with little presence on campus and no leader to sub in while Nardiello was away.
“We really needed to up our social media presence, especially after fall semester, where we didn’t, especially after my junior year last year, we really didn’t have much presence. Part of that [was] because of the fact that [in the] fall semester, we didn’t have much leadership available, and [in] the spring semester, there was no leadership available,” Richardson said.
Nardiello discussed what inspired him to want to become the team’s president and to be that sense of leadership that the club needed.
“I think I’ve always kind of had a leadership quality to me, but the game leads recognized that it was there, and they decided to make me a captain,” Nardiello said.
Nardiello then explained how his leadership role in the team has grown over the years.
“From there, I took a lot more responsibility within the League of Legends team, and then from there with sophomore year, I became a club officer, and I was doing a lot more work in the club, setting up events, [going] to meetings with like higher ups, all of that, and then towards the end of my sophomore year… we didn’t have anyone to fill in the president role, so I took the role,” Nardiello said.
The club has seen an increase in viewership, along with people tapping into their Twitch livestreams on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. The Loyola Esports Instagram and Twitch accounts are evidence of this growth.
“We’re smaller, a little more niche, but I think we’ve done a lot more this semester, especially on a social media front. I mean, we were throughout the last two months [getting] 12,000 page visits on our Instagram. And then on Twitch now, we livestream most of our games, and we’re getting upwards of 30 people per stream,” Nardiello said.
The club has grown to a much larger audience, even beyond the Evergreen campus. Nardiello hopes, as president, to lay the foundation for the next person to take his position and keep improving on all that he has already done for the club.
Many club events are coming up soon, and Nardiello discusses the ideas he has for the semester.
“We’re hoping to host a casual event at some point, either a Mario Kart, Roblox dress to impress maybe, or a Just Dance event at some point, probably up in the fourth floor programming room,” Nardiello said.
Want to keep up to date with the Esports team and events? Follow them on Instagram @LoyolaEsports and join the Discord @LoyolaEsportsDiscord. You can also check out their events on The Bridge to stay up to date with the latest events happening with Loyola Esports.