Boston College opened up their ECRC conference account with a 26-12 defeat of University of Connecticut in the Nutmeg State Saturday.

BC led early thanks to a try from Duncan Wood, but UConn replied with two penalty kicks to lead 6-5.

"We were kind of beating ourselves at that point," said BC center Danny Schatzman. "We had a lot of possession in the game but we missed some scoring opportunities because of knock-ons. We needed to cut out those penalties, too because they have a really good kicker."  

BC replied, with Schatzman at the center of it all. The center went over to make it 10-6 and Wood's conversion put BC up by six. But UConn stayed within reach with another penalty and it was 12-9 at halftime.

"We told each other not to be complacent," Schatzman said of the BC halftime talk. "We knew we were beating ourselves, and we weren't playing as well as we can, but we were still ahead."

Not for long, as UConn added three more to make it 12-12 early in the second half.

But the forwards started to take the ball up hard, finally developing some space for the backs. The BC interior backs started to move the ball to space, and in that space was Schatzman, who went over for two more BC tries to seal his hat trick, and the 26-12 victory.

"The game was closer than we would have liked it to be," said Schatzman. "We know we have some things to improve on and work on. But I am proud of the guys for getting the win. We adjusted to the narrower field and in the second half the forwards started getting good clean ball and we were able to use it."