SPORTS REVIEW 2010 Michaelmas Term - October 2010

Thursday 9 December 2010

With the majority of Varsity fixtures taking place in Lent and Easter Term, much of Michaelmas Term is spent honing squads and, for many, concentrating on the BUCS League Structure. Having finished a respectable 14th in the BUCS Overall Championships in 2009/10, Clubs set off to get back in the top ten for 2010/11 when fixtures began on October 13th, 2010. Below are some of the highlights and lowlights of the season for Cambridge students so far.

October 13th, 2010
A total of 5 Cambridge teams were in action on BUCS’ first day of fixtures. The Women’s Lacrosse Club started their campaign impressively and the 1st team thrashed Bath’s 1st team 24-2 in the Premier League South to send a warning to the rest of the competition that they mean business in this year’s Championship. The 2nd team also recorded a big win, beating Nottingham’s 2nd team 18-2 . The Netball Club started with a win, by the narrowest of margins, at home to Loughborough’s 2nd team.

It wasn’t all good news though as the Women’s Badminton 1st team lost 8-0 in their opening Premier League South clash with Bath and the Men’s Rugby League club were beaten 22-14 by Warwick in the Midlands League.

October 20th, 2010
Week 2 saw many other teams get into action, with a total of 18 fixtures. Eight teams recorded victories, including all of the winners from week one. Women’s Lacrosse 1st team had to settle for a 15-4 scoreline over Bristol’s 1st team, while the 2nd team racked up 23 more goals in a 23-2 victory over Loughborough’s 2nd team. The Netballers beat Loughborough’s 3rd team and were joined in the win column by the 2nd team, who recorded a 35-20 win over Nottingham Trent’s 3rd team. In Tennis, the Women’s 1st team opened up their campaign with a 10-2 victory over Bristol’s 1st team and the Women’s Volleyball 1st team overcame Cranfield’s 1st team 3-0. The final Cambridge victory came courtesy of the Men’s Squash team, who beat Warwick’s second team in 4-1.

Elsewhere, the Women’s Rugby Union 2nd team drew a tight, low-scoring affair 5-5 at Nottingham Trent and the Women’s Badminton team continued their poor start with another 8-0 reverse, this time at the hands of Cardiff’s 1st team. Women’s Football and Hockey lost their opening fixtures to Worcester and Birmingham’s 2nd teams.

October 27th, 2010
Week 3 was another mixed week with Cambridge’s teams suffering defeats in half of the 20 fixtures that took place whilst winning eight and drawing two. Unsurprisingly, the Women’s Lacrosse 1st team were among the winners, beating Southampton’s 1st team 24-0 and although the second team lost to Nottingham’s 1st team, the Lacrosse Men 1st team recorded a win in their first fixture by defeating Northampton’s 1st team 12-8. The Netball 1st and 2nd teams recorded victories over the 1st teams of Nottingham and East Anglia respectively whilst the Women’s Volleyball 1st team saw off the challenge of Nottingham’s 1st team in a 3-1 victory. Women’s Rugby Union again recorded a draw, this time 10-10, with Birmingham’s 1st team and the Men’s Football opened their BUCS campaign at Fenner’s by beating Bedfordshire (Luton) 4-0. The Men’s Basketball team managed a comprehensive 87-57 win over East Anglia’s 1st team.

The Women’s Football and Hockey teams lost narrowly for the 2nd week in a row, to Warwick’s 1st team and Loughborough’s 2nd teams respectively, while the Women’s Lacrosse 2nd team tasted defeat for the first time, losing 9-7 to Nottingham’s 1st team.