GCSU Sports Summary : Michaelmas 2011
Women's Badminton
Caius Women's Badminton have had a great Michaelmas term, winning 5 out of 6 matches so far. With 1 more match to go this term, we are looking towards being promoted into Division 1 next term!
Women’s Basketball
Newly promoted to first division, placed 4/5
League - Won 1 of 2 matches
Beat Trinity, Lost against Kings
Player of Season: Emily Claudet
Men's/Mixed Hockey
Despite an average league campaign dogged by lack of players resulting in forfeiture of two games, leaving Caius in 5th place in Division Three, notwithstanding a 4-0 win over St Catherine’s 2nd XI with just 8 players, Caius have enjoyed best success in Cuppers, with resounding wins over St Catherine’s 2nd XI (again) 11-0 and first division side Downing 5-0, to progress to the quarter-finals of Men’s Cuppers, bolstered by Blues fresher Rory Preston. This achievement was matched in Mixed Cuppers with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Vet School. College hockey icon Matt Murray has once again proved the leading scorer with 9; 7 of which have come in Cuppers; with 4 from Tim Swinn and 3 from Rory Preston and Sam Molina.
Special mention to goalkeeper Jilly Tovey who has been outstanding all season, keeping 3 clean sheets in 6 matches.
Caius Mixed Lacrosse
This term Caius Mixed lacrosse saw a bountiful influx of keen players eager to learn of this sport, "lax". Following our success from last term, we were promoted to the second division of the collegiate league, which would mean harder matches and require some degree of actual skill. We're proud to say that Caius rose to the challenge. Our most recent match saw a tremendous 4-0 win against Emma, perhaps the best result Caius Lacrosse has seen in a number of years!
Ladies’ Netball
We were sad to see some great players graduate last year but fortunately this term’s netball team has benefitted from a big new intake of keen and talented players. Particularly note should go to Jess and Lucy for their reliable accuracy in the D and Clare for her tough defence and even tougher umpiring!
Our biggest win was the 17-5 victory over Churchill but the highlight of the term has to be the tightly fought game against the Medics. With some familiar ex-Caian faces on the opposition, the tension was intensified and the crowd of supporters provided the necessary motivation. It was tightly fought contest till the bitter end but unfortunately, the Medics stole a final goal in the last minute.
But all is not lost – this means we’ll be returning to the fourth league to retain our 2010-11 title! And we’ll be kicking off the season in brand new bibs, with our newbies fully-kitted and some skorts that are calling to be Christened on court. Looking forward to a big term ahead!
Caius Mixed Netball
Caius mixed Netball has had a fantastic first term for this year, finishing as one of the top two teams in our division, thus achieving promotion into the second division. Having played seven matches and winning five all players played with a great deal of enthusiasm, with Robbie Toothill producing passionate performances week on week. Our top goal scorer for the term was Hannah Matthews.
Rugby
It’s been a term of transition for GCRUFC. After losing almost half a team of senior players at the end of last season, the beginning of this one has been about rebuilding the foundations of the club and trying to create a platform to work on for Lent term. A decent number of Freshers have come into the set-up and impressed, particularly Sam Alderson, Tom Roberts and Alex Goddard, with Peter Shotton and Kieran Turton also looking like very handy players. We’ve had mixed results, being on the end to two heavy defeats from Emma and Selwyn but being very competitive in the reverse fixtures, with the breaks just not going our way. A shocking draw with Christ’s left us with a lot of work to do but a thumping, club record 62-5 victory the next week well and truly set the record straight. With a number of players returning from injury and University duties next term and hopefully more of the squad having free time to play, Lent provides a very good opportunity to repeat last year’s Division 4 victory and to match if not better our Cuppers Quarter-Final appearance.
Played 6 – Won 1, Drawn 1, Lost 4 Finished 3rd in pool
Men's Rowing
The men's squad have carried on their success from last year, despite nearly a full boat's worth of rowers trialing for the university teams for the term. Our 1st four started off the year by winning University Fours in November in a convincing demonstration of our continued strength. We followed it up by moving into our first and second eights, which have had continued success this term at Winter Head. The first eight was the fastest college crew over the course, winning the event, and the second eight was the third-fastest despite a substitute in the boat. We're looking forward to Fairbairns at the end of the term as the culmination of this term's rowing, and to further consolidate our dominant position on the river - and forward further still to bumps!
Women's Senior Rowing
Caius senior women have had a great start to the rowing term, finishing
second in the Autumn Head and beating many good boats to come joint third
in Winter Head. Preparation is now underway by both the first eight and the
second four for Fairbairns, the last and most important race of the term.
Women's Novice Rowing
CBC women were overwhelmed this term by the flood of keen Caius women eager to embrace the most quintessential and noble sport of rowing. But these girls were not of the fair weather type for everyone has finished the term in style. Highlights have included:
* Queens' Ergs: NW1 went into the final as the fastest and favourites but narrowly missed out finishing in second place overall. NW2 finished a fantastic 5th in their division.
* Winter Head-to-Head saw NW1 kicking off their racing season with a 2.5km piece finishing 2nd fastest out of the college novices.
* Clare Novices saw three boats competing in a side-by-side face-off. Each crew did CBC women proud, with special congratulations to NW1 who made the semi-finals.
Bring on Fairbairns!
