{"id":104285,"date":"2015-09-04T10:15:33","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T14:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=104285"},"modified":"2015-09-10T14:48:12","modified_gmt":"2015-09-10T18:48:12","slug":"uconn-clinches-win-in-season-opener-at-pw-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/09\/uconn-clinches-win-in-season-opener-at-pw-stadium\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Clinches Win in Season Opener at P&W Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"F-15<\/a>
F-15 aircraft fly over Pratt & Whitney Stadium before the game. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Against a backdrop of pink-tinged clouds Thursday, the UConn Huskies faced off against the Villanova Wildcats in their season opener at the newly named Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.<\/p>\n

But the only color that mattered after sunset was blue.<\/p>\n

\"Coach<\/a>
Coach Bob Diaco leads the UConn football team onto the field at Pratt & Whitney Stadium for their season debut on Sept. 3. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UConn Huskies trumped the Villanova Wildcats 20-15 at the game, which was also a celebration of the stadium\u2019s new name.<\/p>\n

Throughout the evening, there were special tributes to the company that more than a decade ago provided the state with the land to build the sports facility.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
The Sept. 3 game against Villanova was the first game since the stadium at Rentschler Field was renamed for Pratt & Whitney. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before kickoff, the UConn band formed P & W on the field as they played the \u201cBattle Hymn of the Republic.\u201d As the song ended, two F-15 fighter planes flew over the stadium, which is located on land that until 1999 had been part of the former Rentschler Field airport. Moments later, trainers released a bald eagle that circled the field during the national anthem.<\/p>\n

\"Challenger<\/a>
Challenger the bald eagle makes a flight across the stadium before the start of the game. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thousands of Pratt & Whitney employees and their families joined other UConn fans at the game, donning special blue jerseys with the company name. And, during a time-out in the first quarter, President Susan Herbst, Provost Mun Choi, and Larry McHugh presented Pratt & Whitney Vice President Tom Prete with a UConn football jersey.<\/p>\n

\"Larry<\/a>
Larry McHugh, left, chair of the Board of Trustees, President Susan Herbst, Tom Prete, Pratt & Whitney vice president of engineering, Provost Mun Choi, and Jonathan the Huskyduring the football game against Villanova. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWatching our Huskies win the first game of the football season last night was a thrill \u2013 and the energy of our fans at the game was amazing,\u201d Herbst wrote to the University community afterward.<\/p>\n

\"UConn<\/a>
Cheerleaders and the UConn Marching Band set the tone for the fans. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn trumped the Villanova Wildcats 20-15 in the opening game of the season, which was also a celebration of the stadium\u2019s new name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":104290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1712],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[42],"class_list":["post-104285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 01:40:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104285"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104307,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104285\/revisions\/104307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/104290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104285"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=104285"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=104285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}