Credit: Megan Brass – The team show off their medals.
Writer
Glasgow University’s Ultimate Frisbee club enjoyed more success at the UK Mixed Indoor Championships as they fought off a strong Leeds team to win a tense final 9-8 in Wolverhampton. The tournament, which pits teams from all across the country against one another, saw Duncan Webster of Glasgow being named MVP (most valuable player) and he told the Glasgow Guardian, “to win a national tournament was amazing. Years of training, early mornings, blood, sweat and even the occasional tear were all worth it.”
With semester one coming to a close and exams on the horizon, it’s not often that students feel overjoyed with festive cheer around this time of the year. However, the celebrations are not on hold for Glasgow University Ultimate as their indoor season track record continues to grow and their medals keep on coming.
The weekend of the 12th and 13th November saw the men’s first team champion Scottish regionals, adding another trophy to the cabinet after the club’s domination at mixed regionals just two weeks earlier.
The women travelled to Aberdeen with high hopes of following stead, but a tough loss on universe point to Glasgow rivals Strathclyde in their semi-final saw them finishing fourth overall. Despite the disappointment, this comfortably earned them national qualification. The women’s second team also caused excitement for the club over the weekend as they beat two first teams, earning a place in the top 8 and narrowly missing out on the final qualification spot after a 6v7 play off against Heriot Watt 1.
The mixed nationals qualification sealed at Oriam earlier in the season saw a squad of players head down to Wolverhampton over the 26th and 27th to play against the top teams from all over the UK. With a number of key first team players unavailable for the weekend, their predicted first place finish was uncertain.
However, things were looking bright for Glasgow from the off as zero losses on Saturday meant they topped their pool and held onto their strong second seed moving into Sunday. A tough but successful crossover against Edinburgh on Sunday morning warmed them up for their quarter final, and they dominated their semi-final winning 11-5 against Warwick.
The final saw them come head-to-head with Leeds. As teams from the other Scottish universities cheered them on from the sideline, and the rest of the club watched the game on live stream, Glasgow brought it back from being 2 points down to snagging the win in universe point. A final score of 8-7 saw Glasgow University Ultimate become UK Mixed Indoor Champions.
Webster commented after the final, “we had a strong start but huge plays from Leeds gave them the edge. I was concerned but I knew we could win if we just played our own game. But most of all it just showed that we could do it. We had played finals before and knew we were good, but for the first time we were champions.”
With Edinburgh and Strathclyde also finishing in the top 8 and Aberdeen smashing the Division 2 final 10-6 against Nottingham, the weekend was exciting for ultimate frisbee in Scotland overall.
Men’s and women’s nationals in February 2017 will end the indoor season for this year, and with teams entered into both tournaments Glasgow are looking strong. Can they continue their gold rush…?
