FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The University of Saint Francis Super Smash Bros team recently traveled to Columbus, OH for the Great Lakes Esports Conference Fall Championships. After finishing the regular season with a fantastic 8-3 record, the USF Smash team punched their ticket to the Great Lakes Esports Conference Playoffs as the #3 seed. 

USF took on #6 seed Valparaiso in the Quarterfinals. In the best of three Crew Battle format, senior Joe Caffee took down all three players by himself, only losing one stock, to win game one. USF went on to beat Valparaiso 2-0 with the help of senior Callahan Kagel, and Junior Ivan Serapio, to advance to the Semifinals vs Alma.

The Semifinal matchup vs Alma was much closer, with USF winning game one and Alma winning game two, forcing the match into a deciding game three. In the final game, USF had their backs against the wall with our last player, Joe Caffee, down to his final stock vs Alma's last player with all three of their stocks. In miraculous fashion, Joe took all of Alma's last three stocks to win game three and propel USF to the Grand Finals.

In the Grand Finals, USF faced off against three time consecutive champions Manchester University. Manchester went on to win 3-0 in the best of five Grand Finals, but USF did not make it easy with each game coming down to both teams' last player in the Crew Battle format.

That 2nd place finish is the highest finish in USF Esports history in the Great Lakes Esports Conference, topping the Smash team's 3rd place finish in the Spring of 2022. The USF Smash team will be competing again in the Spring 2023 season starting on January 21st.

Cougar fans, stay updated with all events and recaps with USF Athletics by visiting Saintfranciscougars.com or by downloading the Saint Francis Cougars app.