| COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - After securing its second NCAA Division I national championship in three years last season, the University of Minnesota Duluth begins the 2010-11 season atop the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women's College Hockey Poll. The Bulldogs grabbed the preseason No. 1 ranking after collecting 187 points and 18-of-19 first-place votes.
| This Week's Top-10 Match-ups | | Friday, October 1
No. 6 University of Minnesota
vs.
No. 7 Clarkson University
Saturday, October 2
No. 6 University of Minnesota
vs.
No. 7 Clarkson University | | Last year's national championship runner-up Cornell University ranks second with 167 points, while Mercyhurst College sits in the No. 3 spot with 136 points and one first-place vote. Boston University (132) and the University of Wisconsin (115) round out the top five.
NOTES: The Western Collegiate Hockey Association leads all conferences with four ranked teams, while ECAC Hockey has three ranked teams and the Hockey East Association has two. Mercyhurst is the only College Hockey America team ranked ... A total of 15 teams received votes.
ABOUT THE POLL: The 14th annual USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women’s College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the four NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey Magazine, the most widely distributed hockey magazine in the world.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
Women's College Hockey Poll - #1 (Preseason)
(first-place votes in parentheses)
| Rank | School | 2009-10
Final Rank | 2009-10 Record | | 1 | University of Minnesota Duluth, 187 (18) | 1 | 31-8-2 | | 2 | Cornell University, 167 | 2 | 21-9-6 | | 3 | Mercyhurst College, 136 (1) | 3 | 30-3-3 | | 4 | Boston University, 132 | 8 | 17-9-12 | | 5 | University of Wisconsin, 115 | NR | 18-5-3 | | 6 | University of Minnesota, 106 | 4 | 26-9-5 | | 7 | Clarkson University, 70 | 5 | 23-12-5 | | 8 | Boston College, 46 | NR | 8-17-10 | | 9 | Harvard University, 39 | 7 | 20-8-5 | | 10 | The Ohio State University, 12 | NR | 17-15-5 | Others receiving votes: University of New Hampshire, 10; Providence College, 10; University of North Dakota, 7; St. Lawrence University, 4; Syracuse University, 4. |
