Playing its first home game on the St. John's seminary field in 11 years, the rugby team defeated UConn 29-24 in a gritty battle to move to 2-0 on the season while dropping UConn to 0-2.
UConn attempted to get things going early by kicking for points off their first possession. The kick sailed wide, but Boston College capitalized on the error by driving the length of the field courtesy of a 40-yard run by sophomore Ted Smith.
BC pushed to the five-meter mark and ended the drive with a diving score by sophomore Phil Albanese.
Senior Jay Mangone's kick was good to put the Eagles ahead 7-0. UConn answered right back, scoring two minutes later to tie the game at 7-7.
"Traditionally [UConn] is a big, hard-hitting team," said senior Andrew Walsh, "so our game plan was to beat them with speed and aggressiveness."
BC proved this strategy effective by stealing the ball on UConn's next possession, thanks to crushing tackles by Kyle Ramachandran and Tom Case.
This set up a 15-meter run by sophomore Nick Ng for a second score, putting the Eagles back on top 12-7.
The Eagles were relentless throughout the first half, running the ball with power and agility that seemed to overwhelm the Huskies.
Scores by Smith and senior Patrick Cooney increased the Eagles' lead to 24-7.
Despite BC's dominant play throughout the first half, UConn continued to hit hard, hoping to slow the speedy Eagles.
By the end of the first half, Cooney and Albanese, both of whom contributed a score for BC, had to leave the game with concussions.
Clawing their way back into the game, the Huskies managed to score with no time left in the first half on a BC penalty, cutting their deficit to 24-14.
The second half of the game tested the Eagles' resolve right until the last minute of the game.
BC took possession of the ball early in the second half, putting it right into the heart of Huskie territory with a downfield kick by Ramachandran.
A UConn penalty gave possession back to the Eagles, which led to a short run by Smith who hammered through a tackle to score.
The Eagles' lead increased to 29-19.
UConn received possession and charged downfield, bringing the ball to the five-meter line. It hammered the ball through BC's defenses to score, only to have it brought back 10 meters on an offsides penalty.
This was the start of an eight-minute siege where BC fended off UConn's repeated attempts on its try zone.
After a gritty stand right on their own try line, however, BC's defense was eventually bested on a 10-meter score by UConn's Matt Golchin.
UConn continued to play its physical brand of rugby right until the last minute.
Smith sustained a head injury late in the second half and became the third Eagle to be brought to the hospital, but not before finishing out the final minutes of the game on the field.
In the end, BC was able to outlast UConn, winning by a score of 29-24. BC's B-side team also won, beating UConn's B-side 26-15.
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