BUCS Report - The Season So Far

Thursday 11 November 2010

After a mixed start to the season, most of our Cambridge teams competing in BUCS are back to winning ways. The 2010 graduation has hit a many to Cambridge clubs hard this year, with many teams largely made up of freshers.

Men’s badminton continued on with their strong start to the season with a win over Worcester in the cup taking them on to face a Nottingham Trent on the 24th November. They are currently top of the Midlands Division 2B with two wins and a draw. The Women’s badminton team have as yet to been unable to secure a win in the Premier League South this year. With some of the country’s top teams in their league, Cambridge may be in danger of relegation.

The Men’s 1st and 2nd basketball teams have played only one match each so far, winning one and losing one respectively. The Women’s basketball club have yet to win a match with four games played, currently bottom of the Midlands Division 1A, 6 points from safely.

The fencing club have suffered the loss of some big players this year, with many established Cambridge fencers having now left, the women’s 2nd team has been withdrawn for 2010-11 and the Men’s 2nd team have been struggling to field a team. This has resulted in two walkovers and two losses. With the 2nd team now on -6 points, even at this point in the season, relegation seems inevitable. The Men’s and Women’s 1st teams will be hungry for success with the upcoming Premier South weekend tournaments in November, December and January.

The Men’s football 1st team have had an excellent start to the season with two big wins over Luton 1st (4-0) and Bedford 1st (3-0). They are top of their conference with a game in hand over second placed Bedford 2nd’s. With two games into the season, the newly promoted the 2nd team are holding their own in the Midlands Division 4D, having won one and drawn one so far. The Women’s football team have had a disappointing start to their BUCS season, without a win in four games, including losing out to Loughborough in the first round of the Conference Cup.

Women’s hockey turned things around this week with an excellent 3-0 win over Loughborough 3rd team at Wilberforce Road. The ladies were without a win in three matches. This important win takes Cambridge off the bottom of the Midlands Division 1A, above Oxford Brookes.

The lacrosse scene at Cambridge is going strong this season. The Men’s 1st team have had a great start with three matches played, two wins so far and only losing out to top placed Loughborough 1st. The women’s 1st team have dealt out some crushing defeats this season which have only been matched by their Oxford counterparts with both teams at 100% through 5 games. Tied on points at the top of the table, Cambridge have just the edge on goal difference. The 2nd team are also joint top of their league with Oxford Brookes, who they narrowly beat 10-9 on the 10th November. The 1st and 2nd teams are both due to play Oxford on the 17th November with the 1st team playing at Queens’ College Pitches, Cambridge and the 2nd team at University Parks, Oxford. With Varsity looming in February, this will be a good indicator as to which teams will end up victorious.

The netball 1st team started in fine form with three wins but have now lost two in a row and have dropped to third in the Midlands Division 1A, only three points adrift the top spot. The 2nd team have won four out of four so far, including a huge 68-6 win over Birmingham City in the Conference Cup. They go on to play Newnham College 1st team in the next round.

The Rugby League team are another club that has suffered the loss of some key players for the 2010-11 season. This has been reflected in the matches they have played so far, with five played and five lost. Cambridge will need to dig deep to turn their season around five matches left to play.

The Women’s Rugby Union have had a sluggish start to the season, with two draws and one narrow defeat; they sit just above the relegation zone in the Midlands Division 1A. They’ll be looking to pick things up in the coming weeks as they are due to play the two teams below them in the league and kick start their season.

New to BUCS for 2010-11, the Men’s Squash team have fitted in nicely with two wins and one defeat to league leaders Oxford Brookes. Sitting in second place they could be in contention for the league championship if they can overcome Oxford Brookes at home in February. The women’s team travelled to Edinburgh for Stage 1 of the Premier League North last week. They came home with one win and two losses and are now due to play Birmingham in the Premier Stage 1 playoffs.

As ever, the Men’s Table Tennis team have come up against some tough opposition in the Premier South, which is reflected in their three matches played without a win. The Women’s team are competing in a series of weekend tournaments this year. With the first one played last week, Cambridge are currently mid-table. They’ll be looking to capitalise in the next tournament to be held in January.

For the second year running, Cambridge has entered four teams in to the BUCS Tennis leagues. The Men’s 1st team is again finding the Northern Premier hard this year, with four matches completed so far, the Blues are without a win. They go on to play fellow strugglers Loughborough 2nd team next week and will hope to secure their first win of the season. The Women’s 1st team have had more success in the Southern Premier, with two wins out of four and are currently tied on points in second place. The men’s 2nd team have won two out of two in the Midlands Division 2A. At this stage in the season Cambridge are level on point at the top of the table with a game in hand. The women’s 2nd team have yet to gain a win in the Midlands Division 1A, however due the award of a walkover from Oxford Brookes they have managed to gain 3 points to take them off the bottom of the table and all but ensure their safety for the season.

Finally, we come to volleyball. With the Men’s Midlands Division 2B consisting of only 4 teams this year, the league is there for the taking and Cambridge thrashed second place Cranfield 3-1 in their first game of the season this week to suggest that promotion may well be a good possibility. The Women have had an outstanding start to the season, dishing out some unforgiving defeats to top teams around the region, including a 3-0 trouncing of Loughborough’s 1st team this week, and look on course for a strong challenge for top spot.