Squad close in on promotion with win over nearest rivals

The University of East London’s netball first team continued to show their league dominance as they comfortably defeated Imperial College London Medics 69-5 at SportsDock.

Goal attack Stacie Smith and goal scorer Jaspreet Sagoo were once again on form in the shooting circle, and the duo capitalized on their numerous opportunities.

Goalkeeper Joyce Mlambo was particularly impressed with the play in the centre of the court, saying: “Definitely the middle play [was good].

“Centre and wing attack and wing defence, getting the ball into the attack, that was good.”

Mlambo played a major role herself in defending against the Imperial College attackers getting close and disrupting their rhythm.

UEL started the game quickly and were immediately on pace to defeat ICL by far more than their projected target of 20 points.

Smith put in UEL’s 40th goal before half-time, while ICL were struggling to get decent scoring chances.

UEL continued to dominate for the rest of the match, intercepting passes from ICL and using their physical dominance and athletic superiority to win rebounds.

“It was a good win,” Mlambo added. “Still we can improve on things, passing, shooting, defending, but it was good.”

Team captain Shauna Williams-Young said: “You always want more. But it was a brilliant win, and we need to just keep going and going and going.”

The win puts UEL at 7-0 for the season with just three fixtures remaining, giving the other teams in the league little chance of catching a seemingly promotion-bound squad.

The match was also noteworthy for being the first game to be live streamed on the UELSports YouTube channel.

This weekend, UEL will also be livestreaming all the women’s matches in the Volleyball England Student Cup Finals, which will be hosted at SportsDock.

The netball squad, meanwhile, return to action next week with a home fixture against King’s College London fifths and Williams-Young expects to win by at least 30 goals.

“We’re expecting to win,” she Williams-Young. “A good clear win again, like every other week.”

UEL defeated King’s College 51-11 in their first meeting this season.