The NIU rugby team started its 2011 season with a 76-5 victory on the road over Loyola Saturday.

Huskie senior fly half Alex Binetti felt two aspects stood out for the victory over the weekend.

“I’d definitely say our tackling was pretty good, not too many missed tackles,” Binetti said. “Turnover wise, I thought we played really well, [and] keeping the turnover ratio in our favor was definitely a positive for us.”

NIU rugby president Pat Kathan said it took the Huskies a little while to get going Saturday afternoon.

“It started a little slow in the beginning of the game, but I think we were just getting the rust off from not playing for so long,” Kathan said. “It went really well. We started slow but in the second quarter we picked up a little bit.”

The season-opening victory was a total team effort by the Huskies, Kathan said.

“Everyone came out and played really well. A lot of guys put up points. It wasn’t really just one player, the whole team just did well. It really looks good for the first game,” Kathan said.

Even with a lopsided score, Kathan said he believes there is still room for the team to improve as the season continues.

“We just need to fine tune everything,” Kathan said. “We’re still making some mistakes by the end, or everything wasn’t as good as we would like by the end of the season, so just doing the little things even better, I think will help us out throughout the season. But with this good of a start we are all optimistic about this season. We’re feeling good right now.”

NIU’s first regular season home game will be Saturday against UIC.