The Big Sports Round Up Christmas 2013

Last year UCL finished at #38 with a measly total of only 759.5 BUCS points. This year however, we’re #22 so far with 831.5 points, and the only London uni that’s beating us is Imperial at #18. (We’re way ahead of Strand Poly who are #29 with a devilish 666 points.)

Basketball

The 1st team have faced tough opposition in the very competitive BUCS Premiership, producing some mixed results. Nevertheless, a string of resilient performances see them at second in the table. The healthy points difference separating them from third place confirm their status as one of the top 10 teams in the country.

The 2nd team, new to BUCS, sit comfortably at third place in the 4B division. They’re undefeated with 3 out of 3 wins, and their dominant performances give them hope for promotion.

Fencing

Fencing is the most successful sport at UCL this far into the season, bringing in 104 of our 831.5 BUCS points. The Women’s 1s are top of BUCS 1A with a clean sheet of 6 wins, whilst the 2s are second in 2B with 2 wins and 2 losses.

The Men’s 1s are third in BUCS Premier South, just one point behind Oxford 1s in point difference. The 2s are second in BUCS 2B, but a very thin margin separate them from Essex 1s who claim first place so far.

Hockey

UCLU Men’s 1st XI have unfortunately dashed their hopes of a clean sheet with a 5-3 loss against St. Mary’s 1s, sitting in 2nd place behind Chichester (the team they thrashed 7-2 a few weeks ago) in BUCS 1A. They’ve played 1 less game than Chichester and are only 3 points behind them in the tables, so let’s hope the second half of the season sees the 1s back on top.

UCLU Men’s 2nd XI are 4th in the BUCS 3A league, with 2 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss, and the 3rd XI are also 4th but in BUCS 5B with 2 out of 5 wins.

Lacrosse

The Men’s 1st team have won 4 out of 5 games, sitting at a comfortable 2nd in the BUCS 2A league. The Women’s 1st team are so far undefeated with 6 wins, and are top of the BUCS 1A league. The Mixed 1st team are first in the LUSL Premiership with 6 out of 6 wins, whilst the 2nd team is 8th in the same league with 4 losses so far.

Muay Thai

They’re not competing in BUCS, but still had a great term – 7 fighters competed at club level in Suffolk, 2-time Thai boxing world champion David Paquette spoke about the NLP behind his success to the club, and are holding an interclub for 50 fighters at KO gym this weekend.

The social side saw a team shirt pub crawl, film nights and lots of tequila. ULU has been booked for their Varsity venue, an exciting event which will be the highlight of another great term.

Netball

UCLU 1s saw an almost completely new team this year after promotion into BUCS 1A, and are currently 6th in the league. Statistically they can evade relegation in BUCS; realistically it’s not going to happen. In LUSL, they’ve stormed through to the quarter finals of the cup and are currently 5th in the league, looking for a top 3 finish.

UCLU 2s are competing in the BUCS 4B league and are currently 4th. They started the season with losses against the top teams but have climbed up the rankings with some excellent wins in the past few weeks, aiming for a top 2 finish. As for LUSL, they’re in Division 1 and have only lost one game against the top team, securing plenty of big wins. Their target is to finish in the top 2 and return to LUSL Premiership. Player of Term 1 is Alex Edwards.

UCLU 3s were promoted into the same BUCS league as the 2s, and are currently right under them in the rankings, hoping to retain this position. They were also promoted into the same LUSL league as the 2s and have already played most of the hardest games of the season. Currently, they’re sitting at 10th in LUSL Division 1 but hope to see a mid-table finish. Player of Term 1 is Karina Nathoo.

Rugby Union

The Women’s team are competing in the BUCS 1A league and are currently 5th, with 2 out of 7 wins (Uni of Kent has sneakily inputted the wrong result so the BUCS website isn’t correct). In LUSL Premiership, the team is 7th so far, with 1 draw and 1 loss. The 0-0 draw was against King’s – the next time the two rivals face each other will be at Varsity, which promises to be an intense showdown.

The team is sad to say goodbye to three excellent players who are returning to the States after their semester abroad – Bri Siracuse, Eliza Strong and Lulu Ouyang.

Newly promoted RUMS 1st XV have had the best start to a season in living memory. They’re top of BUCS 1A, with 5 out of 6 wins, one of them being an intense 22-21 win against Imperial Medics.

RUMS 2nd XV are 7th in the BUCS 3B with 1 win, 1 draw and 5 losses. The draw was from another neck-to-neck RUMS v. Imperial game, where the score stood at 15-15 at full time.

The 3rd XV, commonly known as The Piglets, have had a strong start to the season, with plenty of new arrivals and a decent training regime. They’re currently 5th in BUCS 5B, but with 3 wins and plenty of socials under their belts, The Piglets show no sign of slowing down!

UCLU Men’s 1st XV are 3rd in BUCS 2B with 7 wins out of 8, with a spectacular 62-0 win against Uni of Hertfordshire 1s but an unfortunate 31-18 loss to King’s 1s. Let’s hope it was an off day and that the boys are ready to take them on again at Varsity.

The 2nd XV are 4th in BUCS 3B with 3 out of 5 wins, one of them being a significant 41-0 win over RUMS 2s in their first game of the season.

UCLU 3rd XV are undefeated and top of BUCS 6A, with a comfortable 78 goal difference separating them from second place.

Squash

Both Men’s 1st and 3rd teams are on top of their leagues so far (BUCS 1A and 4A respectively), and the 2nd team is fourth in BUCS 2B. The Women’s 1st is 3rd in 1A, with 3 out of 6 wins.

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With half the season to go, UCL has a fighting chance to finish top 20 in the BUCS table. The next big thing in the sporting calendar is the London Varsity Series, which promises to be an exciting week in mid-March 2014. Let’s go UC!