V ’12: Women’s Football out for revenge

As the countdown to the Varsity Finale begins, Women’s Football prepare for one of the most highly anticipated games of the year against local rivals Coventry University. Hosted at the Ricoh Arena, home of Coventry City FC and venue for the 2012 Olympic Games, the Finale is expected to attract a record amount of spectators that will undoubtedly generate an electric atmosphere on the night.

Throughout the Varsity season, Warwick’s top teams have gone head to head with Coventry in search of victory, and as the scores draw ever closer, the pressure mounts for football to secure Warwick’s position ahead of Coventry. The Varsity Finale is the highlight of the sporting calendar for women’s football, emphasizing the popularity of the sport at university level and defining it as a highly renowned and successful club, which has gone from strength to strength over the years.

Last year brought disappointment for Warwick after a tense penalty shootout saw the team narrowly defeated, following a full time draw and unavailing extra time period. However, this year’s squad, captained by Lauren Quinn, hopes to be equally as resilient against their toughest competitors. Quinn admits, “It will certainly be a challenging 90 minutes. They’ve got great Premier League players that we’ll have to keep a close eye on but with our full first team out there we will definitely give them a good match”.

So far this season, Warwick have been unlucky in previous encounters with Coventry which saw them beaten 5-0 by the side, but Quinn maintains, “Our toughest matches were both played during reading week when we were missing half of our team, including myself. While our members from the second team stepped up and performed as best they could, it wasn’t a true representation of how our full first team could have played”.

The Finale will provide the opportunity to avenge this defeat and quickly shatter any sense of complacency felt by the Coventry squad, with the high-profile venue hopefully set to evoke an aggressive Warwick performance that justifies the true potential and ability of the team.

Throughout the season, Women’s Football have demonstrated their strength and position as a top emerging club, representing the University not only in BUCS matches, but also through their Sunday League, 5-a-side and Futsal teams. Further to this, the club has had continued success in the Cup, which saw them breeze to a 10-1 victory against Staffordshire 1sts, leading to the announcement that Warwick Sport had crowned them ‘Team of the Week”, but they narrowly missed out on a place in the quarter finals after a 4-3 loss to Lincoln.

Despite holding a respectable third place in the league, Quinn explains, “We’ve had a very unlucky season in all honesty, mainly regarding the scheduling of matches. Two serious injuries have also affected us this season, with key central midfielder, Shona Lester, out with mediate cruciate ligament (MCL) and meniscus damage and Rosie Deakin, a powerful striker, out suffering from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear. The team has worked incredibly hard to compensate for these losses but we certainly miss their presence on the pitch”.

Despite the set backs of injury and schedules, the team have several promising players that are certain to do the team justice. Quinn explains, “Key players to keep an eye out for include Holly Davies, who has saved us many a time in defence. She’s very quick and always has great morale on the pitch. Jenny Clark is another player to look out for. She dominates the left side and has a great cross and incredible pace. Elsewhere, there’s Phoebe Penfold, who’s a strong central midfielder and great at winning the ball and also has great vision on the pitch”.

Asked on the team’s feelings towards playing at such a high profile venue, Quinn stated that, “Playing at the Ricoh is quite intimidating but it’s also a great opportunity so we’re all very excited. The crowd last year was amazing and definitely motivated us to play our best, so hopefully the Warwick numbers will be even greater this year!”

Eve Wilson, President of the club, also remarked that she is “proud and excited to be given the opportunity to showcase women’s football at such a class stadium”, adding that she is “impressed with the high levels of commitment, effort and dedication shown by the team, but especially the positive attitude and spirit both on and off the pitch”.

_The women’s game will kick off at 5.30pm this Wednesday (the 14th of March)._