[Photo: Boston College looks for win #3 this weekend.]

The New England Collegiate Rugby Football Conference women’s DI sphere gets a break from Norwich this weekend. The Cadets picked up right where they left off in DII, and have outscored their first two opponents 301-0. NU enjoys a bye week before picking up their reign of terror in week 4.

After Norwich, a nice battle for second-best will play out this year. Boston College, Boston University and Rhode Island have all posted solid wins through the early season, and the field eagerly awaits their match-ups.

But it won’t happen this weekend. Those three teams all play squads that comprise the bottom tier of New England: UConn, UMass and Northeastern, all of which are 0-2.

Boston College currently sits in second place and banked two wins against UMass (39-5) and UConn (36-12) to stay undefeated. Addison Powell has been a big point-scorer for BC thus far, logging two tries and three conversions against UConn last weekend. Seniors Lily White and Colleen Sinnott also finished with five-pointers, while sophomores Traea Vaillancourt and Emma McGowan represented the younger classmen well with tries.

Boston College should have no problem against Northeastern, which currently holds the last spot in the standings with a point differential of -189.

Rhode Island and Boston University have only played one game thus far, but won them soundly. BU toppled Northeastern 47-5 and URI blanked UMass 54-0. The two should have no problem against week three opponents – BU v UMass (0-2, -88 point differential) and URI v UConn (0-2, -178 point differential).

While a big win is always a good confidence boost, their defenses will not be tested at the level at which they need to prepare for stiffer competition. The following weekend, BC and URI will duke out what should be a great match, and it could come down to who makes the fewest defensive mistakes.

Stay tuned for all the results.