Image: Matt McLennan

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has kicked off their women’s futsal competition today defeating The University of Newcastle (UON) 5-1.

The team from UTS have taken home the Div 1 gold medal the last two years in a row.

Captain of the UTS women’s futsal team, science student Toni Sharp, described the pressure on the team to win the competition for the third year in a row.

“We obviously have a target on our back, everyone knows the history of UTS and there is always rivalries,” Toni said.

“This year is one of the best sides we have brought to Nationals.”

“Our team has such a good attitude and everyone gets along really well so I think that puts us in a really good place.” Toni explained.

UTS player humanities student Tara Murphy,said the team is keen to get out onto the court and repeat their performances over the past two years.

“The passion pushes us and drives us We’ve done it before, so we know we can do it again.”

“There is definitely huge pressure put on us by the uni, but more so by ourselves,” Tara said.

The team from UTS are looking forward to the re-match against Queensland University of Technology (QUT), hoping they can walk away with the same outcome as last year.

Image: Matt McLennan

“We played QUT in the finals last year, it was really passionate and rough on the court, then off the court everyone is friends,” Toni said.

Toni described the honour of representing her university at the Div 1 Nationals, saying it’s a great achievement to be able to wear the UTS colours.

“It’s quite an honour, especially considering the hype around the team, it is always pretty fun,” said Toni.

“We all love futsal, UTS take good care of us, they’re here for the right reasons, so we want to be here for them,” Toni explained.

The team from UTS will be taking the courts again on Tuesday hoping to progress to finals play offs on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday.