More Soccer Silverware for Medway’s Students
The sporting reputation of Universities at Medway students has reached new heights after a champion performance from its first eleven football team. The students landed the Southern England Students Sports Association (SESSA) Premier League East title after achieving a one hundred per record in all eight of their fixtures, scoring 43 goals in the process and conceding just eight.
The championship win was all the more momentous as this is only the second season in which the students – from Greenwich, Kent and Canterbury Christ Church universities – have played together under the Universities at Medway banner. Last season they narrowly avoided relegation.
The team sealed the league title on Wednesday, 6 December with a five-star performance against nearest rivals, Essex-based SEEVIC College. Universities at Medway ran out 5-0 winners, which included a hat-trick from student Luke Moynes, who is studying Sports Therapy, Health and Fitness at the University of Kent.
It was truly a team effort as Greenwich student Adam Overton and Kent’s Nathan Ballin contributed a goal apiece. Goalkeeper Brett Meets (Kent) also made a vital penalty save in the first half with the score at 0-0.
The SESSA league title is the second piece of major silverware won by Medway students in 2006. Back in May, the second eleven men’s soccer team won the SESSA Challenge Cup Final.
Sophie Bruschan, Activities Co-ordinator for the Universities at Medway Students’ Association (UMSA), said the campus was now firmly on the sporting map. ‘The students have put in plenty of hard work in training and they fully deserve their success. There’s a great team spirit between the students at Medway, on and off the pitch, and I’m sure that’s a big factor,’ she said.
‘It probably also helps that many of our team members are studying for sports-related degrees, so their fitness and commitment are truly top notch.’
Also poised for success are the Universities at Medway’s third eleven football team, who are expected to win their SESSA league with just one game remaining.
Despite being a relative newcomer to the student sporting scene, Universities at Medway now boasts a total of four men’s football teams, two women’s five-a-side outfits, men’s basketball and rugby sides, a women’s netball team and a mixed hockey team.
Meanwhile, the championship-winning first eleven football team are looking to compete next season in tournaments run by the British Universities Sports Association (BUSA), which consists of more than 150 higher education institutions.
Universities at Medway sports teams are sponsored by the Dockside Outlet Centre at Chatham Maritime.
--ENDS--
Notes:
Universities at Medway is supported by Medway Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Office of the Deputy Prime Minster, the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and the Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority.
For further information and images:
Nick Davison
Press Officer
University of Greenwich
020 8331 8092
n.a.p.davison@gre.ac.uk
Nick Ellwood
Marketing and Communications Officer
University of Kent at Medway
01634 888 879
n.j.ellwood@kent.ac.uk