BUSA Southerns
First Team: Ceri Jones (c), Matt Cook, Ramzi Barbir, James Breeze, Grace Stimpson, Annett Lloyd Jones, Kristina van Eker, Harry Davies.Second Team: Craig Dyer (c), Joey Niblett, Ollie, Ben Smith, Amy Schillabeer, Ulrike Schmerwitz, Mim Jenns, Caz Lowdon.
After an excellent performance Cardiff Korfball team finished second this weekend in the Southerns championships held at Talybont. The tournament was the second most important event of the year, as Cardiff's final position would decide the seeding it received for the national tournament in Nottingham after Christmas. After its positive performance this weekend the team looks set to do well in the championships, finishing second after being defeated only once in the tournament.
The new Cardiff first team's excellent performance was a proud testament to coaches Grace Stimpson and Matt Cook and Captain Ceri Jones who have competently managed to reshape the team after the loss of key players from last years side. This year the tournament took the form of a round robin instead of the normal pool followed by knockout stages.
An early frustrating draw against Birmingham did not affect Cardiff who went on to convincingly beat Bristol, Oxford, Oxford Brookes and Cambridge. The single loss of the day was against a very competitive UEA team who look to have retained the players and skills that saw them to the Nationals final last year. However, with second position Cardiff look like realising its potential and ensured a good seeding for the all-important nationals next year.
Cardiff showed their potential with goals scored by top scorer Ramzi Barbir being augmented by both experienced players and new players Harry Davies and James Breese.
The Cardiff second team containing all new players also performed well, coming fourth overall in a tough group where they had to compete with experienced teams. Significant tactical manoeuvres were contributed by Ulrike Schmerwitz and Amy Shillabeer as well as top goal scorer Craig Dyer.
Written by Ceri Jones
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Cardiff University 1 (2nd)
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Cardiff University 2 (4th)
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Match Pictures
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Click on the thumbnails to see a larger image
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