Bentley College goes into Week 2 of Rugby Northeast with a second-straight difficult game, but also with a shot of confidence.

The Falcons defeated UMass-Lowell 17-3 last week in a clash of two teams that finished the conference 6-2 last season. It was an excellent start to a team that is thinking conference title.

“It was good to escape with the win in a hard-fought game,” said Bentley Coach Brian Pendergast. Indeed it was tight - the game was scoreless for the first 30 minutes as both teams played good defense. Although, Pendergast said his team could have done better to finish.

“We'll need to clean up our penalties and work on expanding our offense,” he said. “We feel like we just missed on some outside plays.”

But still, with flyhalf Niall Collins making some tough tackles and kicking well - his long-range goalkicking was crucial - and with hooker Daniel Kim stepping in to control the set piece and making some big tackles, they won a big one.

Bentley looks ahead now to another big one on Saturday, against Roger Williams. RWU won the regular season last year with an 8-0 record. And last week the Hawks defeated Stonehill 41-6 behind four tries from captain Keith Chamberlain - Mike Cedrone added two while John Rice and Zac Mays added one each.

RWU did a good job of forcing Stonehill into turnovers and then making those turnovers pay. Bentley’s Pendergast knows his team will have to watch that.

“We have a huge test with a very good Roger Williams team Saturday,” he said.

Also in action in the Rugby Northeast, Southern Connecticut visits Providence in another meeting of 1-0 teams. UMass Lowell looks to rebound at a tough Bryant team, and Holy Cross is at Stonehill.