University side face two key games in bid to pip Swansea to the title
UNIVERSITY of Gloucestershire’s Women head into their final two games of the season with a chance of winning the League Western 1A title.
It has not been an easy journey after they were relegated last season from Premiership South B.
With only games against Cardiff Medic (February 13) and UWE (February 27) left to make their mark in the upper end of the league, with a squad of 16, they continue to train twice a week on the pitch, alongside strength and conditioning sessions.
The side are in a good position for promotion, but top-of-the-league Swansea need to draw or lose a game and the girls need to win both games.
Captain Becca Sangwin said: “We didn’t get off to a good start due to injuries and players but we’ve pulled away from that. We’ve utilised our strength and managed to get wins convincingly.
“We’ve had to rebuild and restructure the whole team as we lost a lot of players last year.
“We were in a much tougher league last year but the girls still have to work hard to match the intensity of the opposition. It’s all about those links on the pitch as well as being strong and consistent on the ball.”
Since the start of the season in September, there has been no run of consistent wins or losses.
Sangwin said: “We’ve been focusing on getting short corners because most of the short corners we’ve got in games, we’ve scored from. We can hopefully get some more wins if we work on the midfield and forward connection in our attacking half.”
Hockey at the university has been a focus sport for three years. This allows them to have strength and conditioning sessions, along with a sports therapist to look after the team.
With a healthy chunk of final year players graduating, the team will be looking for a large influx of freshers
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ahead of September 2019, but the captain believes this is not a worry.
Sangwin said: “It would be really good if we were promoted but we are going to be losing a lot of players.
“It could go two ways, it could be beneficial but looking ahead it could be better for the girls to remain in this league and build in a new team.
“It will be a good challenge for them to restructure everything, let alone win games consistently. Anything can happen but I am not worried.”
Varsity is only a few months away the university’s biggest game of the year against rivals, Worcester.
Last year, the Gloucestershire girls won 3-1 in the local derby.
The hockey programme becomes more intense ahead of Varsity with an extra session at Gym66 in Cheltenham which is circuit based and focuses on fitness, strength and muscular endurance.