British University & College Sports (BUCS) don’t stop, baby. Let’s get right to it.

Results

Not the greatest week ever for football; the Centaurs eked out a 1-0 win in extra-time in the preliminary round of the Midlands Conference Cup in a frustrating game (we have all the near-misses and even a goal!), but the Blues went down 2-0 to Nottingham Trent University.

For the other half, the Women’s Blues trashed Worcester 9-1, but the Furies took a 8-1 beating at the hands of Staffordshire.

The reactions are priceless.

Elsewhere, it was a good week for hockey for the men in particular; a clean sweep for all three teams was punctuated by the 1sts overcoming Exeter 4-3 in their Premier South clash for reportedly the first time in ten years.

Exeter were division champions for five straight years from 2007 to 2012; Oxford currently sit atop after three games, and will be hoping to make some serious noise this year.

Unfortunately, the success in hockey was a bright spot in a relatively dismal week.

The uni was swept in several sports; the mens’ rugby league teams only managed one try each as Gloucestershire and Warwick thumped them 58-4 and 50-4 respectively.

All four basketball teams were defeated, including the womens’ 1sts giving up 79 to Southampton Solent and the womens’ 2nds scoring just 12 against Aston.

They’re really trying to make this #fortressiffley hashtag a thing but I’m not sure it’s happening

Netball and squash also saw multiple losses, though both volleyball teams came up with wins – Loughborough for the men, Nottingham for the women .

While womens’ rugby union lost again, they kept it a lot closer than before, with Exeter only able to score 34 points against a resilient defence.

The trip to Bath we mentioned last week in all wasn’t a great success for Oxford; two narrow losses, one tie, and one 12-0 thumping for mens’ tennis.

Preview

In football, the Blues are back at Iffley today to host league-toppers Coventry in a league clash, while the Centaurs continue their cup campaign as they take on Leicester 2nds for a spot in the final 32.

The Womens’ Blues have a bye-week, but the Furies will be chasing that first win with a trip up to face Loughborough 3rds.

“Conor Doyle ‏@CruiseDoyle 9 Oct
The Essex birds love the #CUFC tie. @CoventryUniFC” Dubious.

A number of senior teams are at home today – in hockey, both 1st teams are at Iffley in a double-header, with the men facing Bristol being followed by the women squaring off against Exeter.

The same is true for basketball – the women kick things off with their game against KCL, with the men up against UCL later on.

Lacrosse will be getting in on the fun too, with games at Uni Parks for the men against Portsmouth and the women against Bristol.

One of the university’s newest teams kicks off their BUCS season on Sunday. The American football team may have had the TV cameras on them a couple of weeks ago, but on the field, they’ve got a lot to prove; they failed to win a game in BUCS competition last year, and will be looking to jump-start their season in their home opener against Brighton.

They sorta-kinda-nearly won Varsity, though!

On the other end, some teams will look to keep up their good form; we’ve mentioned the mens’ 3rds hockey streak a bunch already, and they’ll aim to keep that up with their second trip to face Oxford Brookes 4ths in three weeks – this time in the Midlands Conference Cup – but there are a couple more streaks of note in progress.

The badminton mens’ 2nds and their seven-game unbeaten run are safe this week with no fixture, but in lacrosse, the womens’ 2nds have won five on the bounce and will look to make it six as they host Birmingham 2nds.