In the 2021-2022 BUCS season, the Women’s team competed in the Premier division, facing a total of four teams due to Imperial’s early departure. Considering that most of the team had never played a BUCS match before, we got off to a strong start, defeating Birmingham by one point in an extremely tense match. Unfortunately, due to a combination of reduced team numbers, experienced opposition teams and the loss of our pit attack Erin Kraskewicz to the US, our initial win proved to be a one-off event.
Despite this, the team improved drastically over the course of the year. The results against Bristol (arguably one of the best teams) are a testament to this, with our January training camp clearly aiding the development of the team. The first match against Bristol in Michaelmas saw a goal difference of 22 (1-23) whereas in Lent, the team returned with gritted teeth and newfound enthusiasm which saw a reduced goal difference of 3 (10-13).
The league concluded with a match against Manchester Met in the round of 16 where the last-minute changes to the opposition’s team took us by surprise subsequently resulting in our defeat.
Anna Leeson
Women’s Water Polo Captain 2021 – 2022