University Women’s Outdoor Nationals 2025: Scottish Predictions

By Kabir ‘Kb’ Adkoli

After 3 gruelling match days across the season, the Scottish women’s outdoor campaign has drawn to a close. Despite 7 teams registered in the region, only 4 are heading to Nottingham: Strathclyde forfeited their BUCS games and Glasgow and Saints 2 are also not playing this weekend, citing a lack of legs as their reason for non-participation. That leaves us with two apiece in division 1 and 2. So without further ado, here’s how I think the weekend is going to pan out for these teams!

Division 1

St Andrews 1: 1st in the region, seeded 4th

Miley Cyrus had to have somehow known about this Saints women’s team when she wrote ‘Wrecking Ball’, considering the way this team has ripped through the region. With only 10 points conceded across their 5 games, I imagine their team lives by the quote ‘a good offence is the best defence’. With quality spread from top to bottom, this team has a strong chance to break the fourth place curse that, to the best of my knowledge, has haunted them since outdoor nationals last year. The blue and white machine’s quest for a medal starts in a pool with Sheffield, Cambridge and Bristol. I think this may finally be the year they reach the podium, and if I had to make a guess, I reckon they’ll come home with silver.

Edinburgh 1: 2nd in the region, seeded 5th

Edinburgh too had an excellent season as they got past every team in the division, barring Saints, with ease. Their gameplay wasn’t as strong as they scored fewer points and conceded a lot more, but this team was still a cut above all teams below them. The huge squad size will be of great benefit and paired with the loudest sideline in Scottish ultimate, Edinburgh could look to make a deep run into the Sunday brackets. Their pool games include Durham, Imperial and Exeter, all of whom they can take to help build strong momentum. I’m going to put them at 6th as they have a great squad but can still falter when playing some of the elite teams, as seen at indoor nationals.

Division 2

Dundee 1: 4th in the region, seeded 6th

Dundee’s season has gone under most people’s radar, but this team has managed to stack wins against Saints 2, plus a nail-biting 7-6 win against Stirling. While this division only has 8 teams, they still have the same number of games as division 1 teams, which might prove to be an issue due to their small squad size. As evidenced by their 9-7 loss to Glasgow, a team that would have gone to division 1, Dundee are an extremely strong side for this division. With all of this said, I think they might stumble in pool play against Newcastle, Cardiff and reigning division 2 indoor champions Oxford, before a win, loss and another win on Sunday to end up with a bronze medal.

Stirling 1: 5th in the region, seeded 7th

Stirling’s women have been an X factor throughout the season: they beat Saints 2 in convincing fashion, almost matched Dundee’s quality but then took huge losses to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Saints 1. While the squad lacks experience, their performance at indoor nationals, where they bagged 8th, shows they have the ability to perform when the lights shine bright. They find themselves in a pool with Bath, Leeds and Warwick, which looks tough on paper. I think they’ll pick up a win against one of those teams but in a tough Sunday bracket will find themselves going home as 5th.

Here’s the official BUCS graphic for the scores of every game through the season, and here’s the link to follow the action over the weekend. Good luck to all teams competing this weekend, and with two medal predictions for Scotland, there’s high expectations to live up to.