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USC touch team wins bronze at Games
The University of the Sunshine Coast’s mixed touch team claimed a bronze medal at the Australian University Games in Perth last week.
The team opened its campaign with some runaway victories over Deakin (11-3), Monash (11-2) and Ballarat (9-2), before meeting stronger opposition in its remaining three round matches.
USC ended with five wins from six pool matches, then claimed a place in the finals with an exciting 6-5 win over the University of NSW in which the Sunshine Coast team came back from a 3-0 deficit.
The team lost its first semi-final 7-3 to eventual gold medallists Edith Cowan University, before reversing that score against Murdoch University in the bronze medal match to finish third of 13 teams in the division.
Team captain Cameron Sullivan said the team gelled both on and off the field in Perth.
“We bonded really well,” he said. “We knew that we could rely on everyone to do what they were expected to do, and everyone performed above their own abilities.”
USC’s men’s basketball team suffered some disappointing narrow losses and did not make it through to the finals. It finished 14th from 18 teams in its division after five pool matches.
The team enjoyed a 53-47 victory over the University of Notre Dame and was just pipped by fellow Queensland rivals QUT (28-27) and Bond University (51-48).
USC’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Hill last month donated $5,000 to the two teams to offset some of their expenses of registration, accommodation and flights, which totalled $18,000.
— Terry Walsh