The final major BUCS Wednesday of the academic year saw several University of Stirling teams take to the field and battle for either cup success or a gold medal.
In football we saw the ladies 1st team face off against Loughborough down in Bath for the British BUCS final. The team had a magnificent season throughout and came into this game with terrific form, having won a consecutive 14 matches in a row, in all BUCS competitions.
They blew their competitors away and won 5-0. This result was even more incredible considering it was 0-0 at halftime. There were braces scored by McKay and Morris, and Falconer chipped in with the fifth goal. This win confirmed a double for the season, after clinching the league title only one week ago.
The ladies 2nd team also competed today, facing off against Aberdeen in St Andrews. The team put in a solid performance but Aberdeen ended up taking the cup after winning 3-1. The lone Stirling goal was scored when the team were 2-0 down, but Aberdeen’s third goal proved to be the dagger. The team will feel positive going into next year, after a solid league finish of third and a cup final visit.
The only other football team to compete in a final today was the men’s 4th team, who also made the trip to St Andrews. They faced off against Strathclyde 3rd team in a really scrappy match that went down to the wire. The game was won by Stirling in injury time; it was winger Michael Baber who scored the winner, being the final goal in a 3-2 victory. This confirmed a double for the 4s for a second consecutive year after they won their league title this season with several weeks to spare.
There were two more teams competing for gold for Stirling and it was the men’s tennis team and ladies’ tennis team. Both teams made the trip to Bath, where all the major BUCS cup finals were being played, and coincidentally both teams were facing off against teams from Durham University.
Both of the ladies’ teams finished the season with 9-1 records. The only defeats came when facing off against each other, but Durham won the league title by a superior goal difference. They also came out on top at the final meaning that the women’s tennis team finished second in the league and got a silver medal in the cup, a really solid effort.
The men’s team also faced defeat at the hands of a superb Durham tennis outfit. Durham’s tennis team ended up finishing the season with an unbeaten record and beat out Stirling 8-2 in the final. Durham won the doubles segment 4-0 and managed to pull away from there. This meant that the men’s team also finished second in the league and ended with getting a silver medal in the cup.
It’s been a terrific season so far for Stirling University’s sporting teams, with the season wrapping up in the next few weeks. After the triumphs yesterday the university is up to 11th in the BUCS points rankings, only 45 points behind Newcastle. If the remaining fixtures go in Stirling’s favour it could see us achieve our first ever top 10 finish in BUCS.
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