New Combinations for the Jays Show Huge Potential

The Jays have had a positive start to the season and have continued to improve throughout Michaelmas term. With some fresh faces to CULNC, including first years Millie Ireland-Carson, Kate Godsmark, Kate Lee, and incoming PHD student Susannah Hickie the team has bonded closely since the first training session and connections and friendships both on and off court grow with every game. We secured our first win in the second league game of the term (47-20 vs Lincoln 1s) and this showed the huge potential of the team for the season. We later went on to beat Lincoln 51-18 at home on the 17th November which was a testimony to the team’s improvement.

In the Conference Cup, the Jays stormed to victory in the first round against the Bedford side, with shooters Alex Telford, Kate Godsmark and Anna van Velsen sinking over 82 goals to Bedfordshire 1’s 19. In the second round we faced a derby against our training partners, the Blues, in a great match where we kept up the intensity to the last whistle. With a great defensive trio of Astrid Williams, Libby Bryant and Millie Ireland Carson, rotating in the circle and the work of Catherine Allen and India Foster on the circle edge, the defence proved difficult to break, with the Jays winning the third quarter.

Mired with injuries and niggles, illness and isolation, there were a few losses for the Jays in which the score did not reflect the game. Most recently the game against Nottingham 3’s on 1st December resulted in an agonizingly close loss, with patient feeds into the circle by Amelia Burdett and Kate Lee keeping the teams neck and neck, until Notts pulled away in the last quarter.

We look forward to getting back on court in the new year for a rematch (not to mention Varsity!)

Indie Foster, Jays Captain