With Christmas and the New Year break approaching, Kingston University’s sports teams would have been eager to end 2016 on a high this week. While the American football team and the still unbeaten futsal boys got things off to the perfect start at the weekend, Wednesday did not quite go to plan and proved a poor day for the Cougars.
Other than the women’s volleyball team, who had one of their best results of the season, and a couple of draws which included an impressive comeback from the hockey women, there was little else for KU to cheer about.
Football
With the first team already finished for the year, the spotlight fell on the men’s second and third teams this week as well as the women.
Goals from Gurpz Tatla and Talon Larkin were not enough for the seconds to get the win in Reading as two red cards and five goals conceded left the team still without a win to their name.
The thirds came closer but still lost 2-1 at home to bottom-placed Kings College and are now tied on points with the team from central London.
The women, meanwhile, will be anxiously looking over their shoulders after losing 4-1 to Middlesex, which means they now sit just one point above the foot of the table.
Performance of the week
Without doubt the women’s netball team gave the standout performance of the week and one of the best showings of the year. The team got revenge for a 3-2 loss back in October by travelling down to Brighton and whitewashing their opponents 3-0.
Although Hertfordshire have run away with the title this year, with only three games remaining, Kingston moved six points clear of Brighton with the win and look on course for a very solid second place finish this season.
“It felt really good beating Brighton. Our coach has really developed the team and we will keep improving,” said middle blocker Iris Christine.
Story of the week
After going 0-2 to start the season, Kingston’s history-making American footballers finally picked up a much-needed win by beating the University of Bath 26-20 at Tolworth. The team entered the game as the only team in the BUCS South Premier League not to have registered a win, and despite once again trailing at the half, the team’s now routinely second half comeback proved enough this time.
The team cannot start getting ready for the holidays just yet, however, as they have crunch game on the weekend away to top of the table Hertfordshire.
Full KU Results-
American Football:
University of Hertfordshire Mixed First Team 20-26 Kingston University Mixed First Team
Badminton:
Kingston University Men’s First Team 4-4 Brunel University Men’s First Team
Basketball:
University of Brighton Men’s First Team 91-37 Kingston University Men’s First Team
Football:
Reading University Men’s Third Team 5-2 Kingston University Men’s Second Team
Kingston University Men’s Third Team 1-2 King’s College London Men’s Fourth Team
Middlesex University Women’s First Team 4-1 Kingston University Women’s First Team
Futsal:
Kingston University Men’s First Team 6-5 University of Hertfordshire Men’s Second Team (Cup)
Hockey:
Portsmouth University Men’s Third Team 5-4 Kingston University Men’s First Team
Kingston University Women’s First Team 2-2 University College London Women’s First Team
Netball:
Kingston University Women’s First Team 43-45 Reading University Women’s First Team
University of Surrey Women’s Fourth Team 48-18 Kingston University Women’s Second Team
Rugby Union:
University of West London Men’s First Team 61-0 Kingston University Men’s Second Team
Imperial College London Women’s First Team 55-0 Kingston University Women’s First Team
Squash:
Kingston University Men’s First Team 1-2 University of Essex Men’s First Team
Volleyball:
University of Brighton Women’s First Team 0-3 Kingston University Women’s First Team
Josh Smith 
Caitlin Hamill