University of East London female netballers have won the league and cup double and only lost to Anglia Ruskin University’s first team in the challenge cup in a remarkable season.
They have been outstanding this year and have won games in every way, grinding out results against the tough teams and being clinical against the weaker teams.
Title win
UEL had a few standout games this campaign which created this title win.
Firstly, was the home against Kent who like the ladies were unbeaten at the time. The game was tightly contested in the first couple of quarters, but UEL proved their quality and won 42-23.
The girls played Kent again in the reverse fixture after the Christmas break and despite it being at closer game UEL won 37-30 and with their main rivals brushed away UEL were on track for the title.
The ladies won the title with three games to go with in a convincing win away to King’s college London 6s only conceding three goals in a 54-3 victory.
Cup win
The cup was full of banana skins and unbeaten teams like the girls.
With a first-round bye the girls faced two King’s College teams.
Firstly, was King’s College ten who were brushed aside setting up the next Kings College nines who were the division below but shocked Canterbury Christchurch threes in the pr
evious round. UEL avoided the same fate as Canterbury winning 45-20. This set up a quarter final with city’s twos who were no match for the girls in a low scoring match up ending 35-16.
Then came the biggest game of the season, despite being two divisions below UEL, Royal Veterinary College 1sts were flying winning every game and even winning an earlier round 116-0. This was a tough game and an even closer result grinding out a 29-27 win to seal their place in the final.
The final pitted the girls against University of the Arts London’s firsts who only lost one game that season and was only a division below the girls.
However, the game wasn’t as tough as the semi-final and the girls were crowned champions of the South Eastern conference shield winning the game 55-24.
Rising East sat down with Wing Defence and final year student, Pierrette Simuene:
Q: How was the season for you personally?
P: The season was amazing, we achieved things that I haven’t been achieved for years, the fact that we won the finals was crazy but I was not surprised because we all worked so hard together as a group and I have made friends that I will never forget as part of the university journey and it’s helped me also analyse myself as a player that I can go and continue to work hard in netball and reach my goals for the sport.
Q: How was it for the team?
P: I think the team can also agree with what I said that the season was amazing, everyone also improved their game and made sure they executed, we all helped each other as a unit and made sure we won every game that we had and we delivered that for sure.
Q: What was it like winning the title and the cup?
P: Honestly, it was a dream come true. I remember that day like it was yesterday! Everyone knew it was crunch time and in the changing room when everyone was getting ready the atmosphere was so thick because everyone knew what time it was. Wearing those gold medals around our necks just felt so unreal because we finally did it and hopefully this opens people’s minds about netball at the university as we have so many talented players in the team that play for top teams but are not scholars.
Q: How much are you going to miss the girls?
P: I am going to miss the girls so much honestly; every Monday I would look forward to coming into training because I knew those group of girls will make me laugh till my stomach as sore and when one was down the other just knew how to pick the other up. We just got each other and made sure everyone was happy. So, I will truly miss them, and I wish them nothing but the best next season.
Star players
The team did brilliantly as a whole but two players that stood out this season in their first season for the university was centre Tallie Meager and goal shooter Siba Mguga.
These girls helped the team get the important goals to set up victory with Tallie’s vision to find a way to the attacking circle and Siba’s red-hot shooting when she won the ball.
Both was a joy to watch all season.