BUCS Big Wednesday is back with national titles on the line

24 Mar

Wednesday’s Match Schedule

BUCS Big Wednesday is back at Loughborough University on Wednesday with four games of lacrosse across the men’s and women’s competitions in the battle to be crowned National Championship and Trophy winners for 2026.

In the Women’s Championship final, it’s a rematch of last year’s contest with The University of Nottingham looking to repeat the success of 2025 and win a fourth title in five years, while Exeter come in to the match hoping to finally claim a BUCS Championship after being losing finalists in ‘23 and ‘25.

Exeter, under the leadership of Head Coach Mike Molster, have been pushing for a national title now for a number of years and look well equipped this year to give challenge to the reigning champions, following on from their win at the National Sixes Championships.

They once again claimed the BUCS Premier South Division with a perfect record, scoring a dominant 207 goals on the way, but had another dramatic journey to Wednesday’s final defeating Durham by just one goal, 9-8, in the semi-final to book their place in Loughborough.

UoN in comparison have had a fairly routine journey to BUCS Big Wednesday, taking out Birmingham 21-3 and then city rivals Nottingham Trent 13-6 in the semi-final.

They have also won all 10 league matches this season, averaging over 16 goals a game, and will be hoping to finish the job once again and add to their formidable record.

Exeter’s defence comes in particularly strong with goalie Izzy Middleton and quartet of defenders Jemma Thomson, Ash Fawn, Honor Ashby and Lois Crilly all members of England’s recent Under 20 World Championship squad, while at the other end they can call on England Senior attacker Annie Mather and England U20 capped Millie Cant and Taya Dangerfield.

And Exeter’s defence will need to be on its best form, going up against a formidable UoN attack with Sydney Onega, Taylor McClain, Carly Cenci and Amelia Piercy all bringing American college experience, complimented with an England U20 capped midfield trio including Carys Johnson, Molly Kennedy and Emily Warrack and former Boston U middie Hannah Tillier.

Routes to the Women’s Championship

UoN Women
QF: UoN 21-3 Birmingham
SF: UoN 13-6 Nottingham Trent

Exeter Women
QF: Exeter 17-7 Liverpool
SF: Exeter 9-8 Durham

Over in the Men’s Championship, The University of Nottingham appear in the headline fixture once again, desperate to finally pick up the Men’s title, facing off against Durham who will be hoping to add the programme’s illustrious history of BUCS titles.

While Head Coach Mike Armstrong has racked up the national titles with the women’s programme, the Men’s Championship has repeatedly eluded him and UoN, ending up on the losing side in each of the last three finals in a hat-trick of defeats to city rivals Nottingham Trent.

However, his men’s side have been the standout team this year and after being repeatedly thwarted by NTU in previous years, put that to bed emphatically with a dominant 14-1 semi-final win against the previously reigning champions.

That success can be added to dominating the BUCS Premier North this season, remaining undefeated to take the title with nine wins and a draw.

However, it is that single draw that will give Durham hope going into the final match up as it was the North East side that held UoN to an 8-8 tie in their first meeting of the season before UoN won the return contest 14-2.

Durham also put in strong performances against former champions NTU in the league to finish 2nd in Premier North and then defeat Bath (18-2) and Bristol (14-5) to make the championship game.

Durham will rely on the skills of Georgetown alumni Cavanagh Williams and Matt Riley, along with former Loyola LSM Diego Roman who was named an All-American during his senior year.

In response, UoN’s charges are led by the huge talent of Griffin Schutz, the former UVA and PLL drafted star, alongside a whole slew of England U20 internationals in Joachim Ruby, Alex Tyldesley-Worster, James McIlhagger, Ben Jackson, Owen Shuttleworth, Jamie Mochan and George Smith who coach Armstrong knows extremely well and make UoN a truly formidable unit to go up against this season.

Routes to the Men’s Championship

UoN Men
QF: UoN 16-4 Loughborough
SF: UoN 14-1 Nottingham Trent

Durham Men
QF: Durham 18-2 Bath
SF: Durham 14-5 Bristol

The opening match on BUCS Big Wednesday is the Women’s Trophy final as Edinburgh 1s take on an Exeter 2s side that has won the Trophy for the last two occasions.

Exeter 2s have been equally impressive this year, winning all 10 league matches in the Women’s Premier South 2 Division to go with huge victories in the previous trophy rounds, as they go for the hat-trick of wins.

Following relegation last year, Edinburgh have put the previous season behind them to go undefeated in winning the Premier North 2 Division and cap it off with this appearance in the Trophy final.

Routes to the Women’s Trophy

Edinburgh
R1: Edinburgh 17-1 Glasgow
R2: Edinburgh 22-2 Edinburgh 3s
R3: Edinburgh 12-3 St Andrew’s
QF: Edinburgh 18-2 Newcastle
SF: Edinburgh 11-9 Nottingham 2s

Exeter 2s
R1: BYE
R2: Exeter 2s W/O Southampton
R3: Exeter 2s 26-1 Surrey
QF: Exeter 2s 19-7 UCL
SF: Exeter 2s 26-7 Bath

The opening Women’s match up will be followed by the Men’s Trophy final in cross country affair between Cardiff and Glasgow.

Both Glasgow and Cardiff have recorded perfect league seasons winning the respective Scottish Tier 1 and Western Tier 1 leagues, putting promotion on the table for next season, but for now attention will turn to securing a first trophy success.

Routes to the Men’s Trophy

Glasgow
R1: Glasgow 23-2 Strathclyde
R2: Glasgow 8-7 St Andrew’s
QF: Glasgow W/O Edinburgh
SF: Glasgow 9-6 Sheffield Hallam

Cardiff
R1: Cardiff 8-1 Swansea
R2: Cardiff 8-0 Bath 2s
QF: Cardiff 17-1 Plymouth
SF: Cardiff 11-3 St Mary’s

Sean White

BUCS Big Wednesday is back with national titles on the line

Could British Gas for Tomorrow help your club?