March 26, 2015, by Lee Chrimes
All that glitters is Green and Gold!
4 out of 5 golds for University of Nottingham Sport at BUCS Big Wednesday 2015!
The University of Nottingham capped off a successful season in outstanding style yesterday at Loughborough Sport Park by winning 4 out their 5 finals at the BUCS Big Wednesday event. Currently sitting at third place in the BUCS table, Nottingham wanted to maintain that momentum and add national titles against tough opposition.
Cup final events took place throughout the day at Loughborough University’s sports facilities, and for Nottingham Men’s Hockey, Men’s and Women’s Table Tennis and Men’s Lacrosse were all competing for the coveted title of National Champions. Ladies Fencing were also looking for a win in the Trophy final against Exeter University, and a place in the playoffs to rise to the BUCS premier league next season.
Men’s Hockey
In one of our most highly anticipated finals of the season, University of Nottingham Men’s Hockey 1st team took on Loughborough University Men’s Hockey in front of over 1,000 spectators, half of which were UoN supporters. With the score tied at 1-1 after full time, the match was settled on penalty flicks. Dan Darby in the UoN goal pulled off three excellent saves, and coupled with scores from 2012 Olympian Harry Martin, Ben James and Mo Ghandi the match was Nottingham’s.
The last time men’s hockey won the BUCS gold was exactly 50 years ago, so celebrations were understandably emotional after an absolutely fantastic game for all involved.
Our Men’s Hockey captain Andy Dalman said the following the fixture: “I can’t begin to describe how much this means to us. Every fitness test and off-season sacrifice over the last three years has been in anticipation of this game. Every late night video session and every early morning run – the hard work has definitely paid off.”
Men’s & Women’s Table Tennis
In a scintillating afternoon of table tennis at Loughborough Sportpark, The University of Nottingham defeated arch rivals and previous title holders Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in both events and secured a place in the European University Table Tennis Championships. Both titles came within minutes of each other as the Women’s team of Yolanda King and Tressa Armitage produced an amazing display to oust NTU 3-0, with Yolanda winning 3 games to 2 in the final match against England number 5 and Ladies National bronze medallist Emma Vickers.
Shortly after this the Men’s team of Paul McCreery, Liam McTiernon, Ben Gardner and James Grayson were celebrating a 9-5 win over a 3 time gold medal winning NTU side led by England number 5 Chris Doran.
All University of Nottingham Sport players were in great form, none more so than Liam who claimed the key scalp of Doran 12-10 in the deciding fifth game to leave the match finely poised at 5-4. Liam turned around a 8-10 deficit in the final end with an awesome display of attacking table tennis.
Nicola Perry, Director of Table Tennis at The University of Nottingham and commonwealth medallist said: “I am so pleased and proud of all the players who have worked incredibly hard to win these titles and I want to thank the whole coaching team for their efforts over the season.”
Men’s Lacrosse
Men’s Lacrosse nearly produced the upset of the day against favourites Durham University when they lead 8-4 in the second half. Nottingham coach and scholar Kam Bumpus led the team, winning all but one of the face offs and also scoring a hat trick, an incredible feat. Tyler Wilcox and Nick Agrisani contributed well, scoring two goals each, with Ben Robinson scoring the opener.
At the end of the third quarter Durham were making their presence known and pulled the score back to 8-7. With minutes of the match left, the experience of the Durham side powered through to complete the match at 8-11 to Durham. Although they had to be content with Silver, the team and club can be very proud of the performance they have put in, having taken the reigning champions closer than ever before.
Ladies Lacrosse club president Georgina Lack stated: “The boys made the whole club proud – no team has ever threatened Durham like we did yesterday. They had standout performances and incredible goals from the Americans, but really it was a whole team effort, and to be able to say that they are the second best team in Britain is an amazing achievement.”
Women’s Fencing
Earlier in the day, Ladies Fencing won their Trophy final against Exeter University. Our team consisted of Julie Pages, Jacqueline Cordell, Aimee Parsons, Abi Speakman, Emily Richardson, Nikoleta Rankova and 1st team captain Emma Duxon.
The final was always set to be a close affair between two teams with strong track records. With a 7 point margin between the two sides going into the final weapon, it was then down to the 3 Epee fencers to defend this gap. After a few bouts in, it became clear that the victory was to be ours. With some of the best performances they have put in all season, Nottingham stormed to a 55-25 victory in foil to make the cup-winning final score 117-80.
More news and pictures
You can relive the excitement through the BUCS website, who have both picture galleries from the day’s events and a live feed of results that charts our teams’ progress to victory. or follow the BUCS Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channels for photos, updates and videos from the event.
Also follow @UoNSport for all the latest news and updates, and keep track of the winning teams through the Twitter feeds listed below:
- Women’s Fencing – @UoN_Fencing
- Men’s & Women’s Table Tennis – @UoNTT
- Men’s Hockey – @NottsUniHC
- Men’s Lacrosse – @UoNMensLax
No comments yet, fill out a comment to be the first
Leave a Reply