Women's Hockey | 10/27/2008 5:15:00 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT women's hockey team is ranked seventh nationally in the first USCHO.com Division III women's hockey poll of the season.  RIT, which was ranked as high as fourth in 2007-08, was eighth in the final poll of the year.  The Tigers open the 2008-09 season at home against Division I Robert Morris on Friday at 3 p.m.

The Tigers will play the top four teams in the rankings this season.  SUNY Plattsburgh, the two-time defending national champion is the unanimous number one team in the nation, while Elmira is ranked second.   Both teams are RIT's big rivals in the ECAC West.  Middlebury is ranked third, while Amherst is fourth.  Western standouts Gustavus Adolphus and Wisconsin-Superior are tied for fourth and sixth, respectively.

The Tigers finished the 2007-08 record with a 19-7-0 record.