Women's Hockey | 1/29/2018 5:38:00 PM

PITTSBURGH -- Coming off a crucial series win, the Robert Morris women's hockey team has returned to the national rankings.

Thanks to a 2-2 tie with visiting College Hockey America (CHA) nemesis Penn State Friday, followed by a 4-2 triumph over the Nittany Lions in their annual "Skate for the Cure" game Saturday, the Colonials (15-6-4, 9-2-3) were tabbed No. 10 in the new USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll, released Monday.

RMU finds itself ranked by USCHO for the 14th week of this season and 25th time over the past 28 weeks overall. The Colonials have, minimally, received votes in each of the last 32 USCHO.com polls published, a streak dating back to November of 2016 that is the longest such run in program history.

The organization's weekly poll consists of 15 voters, including coaches and women's hockey writers from across the country.
 

USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./January 29, 2018

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 Wisconsin                 (15)   26- 1-1   150     1
 2 Clarkson                         23- 3-1   125     3
 3 Boston College                   24- 2-3   122     3
 4 Colgate                          23- 4-1   112     2
 5 Cornell                          13- 7-2    83     6
 6 Ohio State                       17- 7-4    76     5
 7 Minnesota                        19- 8-2    65     7
 8 St. Lawrence                     14- 9-3    40     8
 9 Providence                       14- 9-6    22    10
10 Robert Morris                    15- 6-4    19    NR

Others receiving votes: Maine 7, Mercyhurst 3, Northeastern 1.

The Colonials feature 2017 Dapper Dan Sportswoman of the Year Brittany Howard, the reigning CHA scoring champion and current leader with 37 points, who also tops the conference with 18 goals. Already the chief point-getter in RMU history with 169 (72 G, 97 A), the second-most career points of any active NCAA player, she needs only two more goals to become the program's career goal-scoring queen.

On the back end, they are led by Kirsten Welsh, the program's career points leader among defenders with 72 (28 G, 42 A). Welsh was named CHA Player of the Week after setting a new Robert Morris single-season record for blue-liners with her 12th goal of 2017-18. RMU has the highest-scoring D-corps in Division I, with 81 combined points (24 G, 57 A).

Senior goalie Elijah Milne-Price continues to lead CHA with a .727 winning percentage after collecting her conference-best 14th victory of the season Saturday. She made half of her career-best 36 saves on the penalty kill that day, and her 1.91 goals-against average ranks fourth among NCAA upperclassmen.

No. 10 Robert Morris is on a bye week before its final regular-season home series, against CHA rival Lindenwood, Feb. 9-10. The Friday game at the Island Sports Center has a special start time, 3:05 p.m., ditto the Saturday affair at 1:05 p.m., as part of a women's/men's team doubleheader.

The men will take on RIT in a pair of 7:05 p.m. contests that follow the Senior Weekend series.

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