4/5 wins for EUNC! - 28/10/17

A great day for EUNC as our teams travelled across Scotland to play in their respective league matches, coming back with an impressive four wins out of the five matches played. Our 1st team showed an extremely promising start, beating Heriot Watt by 30 goals. Having not lost a match in Scottish 1A for the past five years, they are in a prime position for winning the league again this year and fighting for that spot in the Premiership. See individual match reports below:

EUNC 1s vs Heriot Watt 1s - WON 57-27

The 1s travelled to the Oriam to kick start our season in Scottish 1A. With a fresh new team and some big goals for the year we were slightly nervous but excited to get going and replicate the amazing start to the season we have had in the CENA league!

Starting 7: Chloe Logan (GS), Taves Mason (GA), Rosie Oakley-Slater (WA), Rebecca Metcalfe (C), Emma Niven (WD), Hannah Grant (GD), Eilidh Reid (GK).

The match started off pretty even, with Heriot Watt setting up a loud centre court zone which we hadn’t come across in training. It took as a little while to settle in, which was to be expected with all the new combinations. However, by the end of the first quarter we had already began to take a comfortable lead finishing 14-4.

The second quarter saw a few changes with Niv moving into C and Kirstie taking up WD. Kirstie seemed to be completely un-phased by the fact it was her first BUCS match and was a strong addition to the defensive unit. We began to really settle into our play and perfect the timing of our drives, making our attacking play appear like clockwork! We also saw success from full court defence. This allowed us to extend our lead to 28-12.

With such a healthy lead we proceeded to change things up massively in the third quarter where Breagha, Antonia, Abby and Lara all took to the court. This is most likely the youngest EUNC 1s 7 to ever play a BUCS match together with 6 freshers and young Rosie but age was no obstacle as they took us into the final quarter 39-21 up and showed that EUNC 1s have a lot to look forward to!

Going into the final quarter we wanted to ensure we kept the intensity high and didn’t slip into complacent play. Heriot Watt came back and started every quarter off strong and this was no exception. We set a target of 55 goals to keep us focused and it proved to be no bother!

Final score: 57-27. Player of the match: Hannah Grant. Shooting Stats: 83%

Big shout out to Antonia, Breagha, Abby, Rebecca, Kirstie, Lara and Hannah on their tremendous EUNC BUCS debut!

We are thrilled to have had such a strong start to our season and I’d like to say a huge well done to the whole team, you all stepped up and I’m really excited for more challenging matches to come! – Eilidh xx

EUNC 4s vs Aberdeen 1s - LOST 27-31

After a long journey to Aberdeen, the 4s started play a little tired and were down a few goals in the first few minutes. After our shooters scored some great shots, spirits picked up and we realised quickly we could definitely win this game. Everyone was putting in maximum effort and playing brilliantly. The game continued closely with 1/2 goals between the teams until the end of the third quarter where our our star GA, Ola, injured her foot, meaning a shuffle in positions was needed. Unfortunately this shook us a little and Aberdeen took advantage, winning the last quarter. We managed to hold onto a difference of 4 goals and left with high spirits, putting up a great fight against a strong 1st team and knowing we stand a great chance in that home rematch next semester.

EUNC 5s vs Glasgow Caledonians 1s - WON 31-29

After a late start thanks to the one and only Meg Mcnair forgetting she had to umpire (classic), the 5s won 31-29 against Glasgow Caledonian 1s. The team fought hard until the end with extra effort made by the shooters to get every rebound, the team showing great mentality to come out on top of such a close game.

EUNC 7s vs UWS 1s - WON 41-30

7s vs UWS (away). At the beginning of the match the scores were very even and there was good play from both sides. As it was our first match playing together it took time for us to get used to working together under pressure but by the end of the first quarter we managed to get ahead, leading 11-6. We massively improved our performance in the 2nd quarter as we got used to playing as a team meaning at half time the score was 23-9 increasing the gap. But UWS started to come back in the third quarter putting on a lot of fresh faces to test our play. The final quarter proved to be even as UWS pushed back hard, but Edinburgh managed to still gain a lot of turnovers and had some great interceptions. The final score was 41-30 to Edinburgh. As a team we felt our play got better as the match went on as we learnt off of one another and played great as a team. The player of the match was Nell for her amazing holding in the circle to score those goals.

EUNC 8s vs Stirling 4s - WON 26-24

On Sat 28th October, the 8s played at home against Stirling 4s. The game was extremely tight throughout, with the second quarter ending in a draw. However, in the last quarter the 8s managed to gain a lead due to some exceptional feeding of the circle by Lauren Thomson, and maintained it in the last few minutes to win the game 26-24.