[OPENING DAY] New England's Boston College and Connecticut were the only Top 25 teams to win opening day, and they got big games for first-year players.

Amit Aburmad, a 24-year-old Israeli, had a goal and an assist in his first game to help No. 9 Boston College hold off visiting Hartford, 3-2.

Aburmad, a midfielder, had spent the last two seasons at Mercer County Community College.

First-year players Mamadou Diouf and Nickardo Blake scored to give No. 10 Connecticut a 2-0 win over St. Francis (N.Y.).

Diouf, a freshman, joined sophomore Stephane Diop in the pipeline the Huskies are developing in Senegal. He attended Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut last year.

Blake was a JC All-American last season at East Central College in Missouri,

Andrew Jean-Baptiste, rated one of the top young defenders in the country, started on the UConn backline.

Colin Bradley, a red-shirt freshman, and Trinidadian freshman Qian Grosvenor also started for the Huskies.