Coming off a pair of second-place finishes, the NIU paintball team has been ranked No. 3 in the nation in Class AA by the National Collegiate Paintball Association.

NIU placed second at both the Midwest Intercollegiate Tournament XVIII and the University of Michigan Open. They are ranked third with 180.5 points, and are behind the first-place East Tennessee State Buccaneers (200) and the University of Wisconsin-Plateville Pioneers (191).

“It’s still pretty early in the season,” said Dave Moore, NIU Paintball Club president. “But I’m hopeful we can continue our winning streak with the talent we’ve been fielding and that talent that runs through this college.”

This is not the first time the Huskies have seen the national rankings. The team finished the 2007-2008 campaign ranked 38th nationally, which featured only one top 10 and two top 15 finishes. The Huskies were also ranked No. 12 in the 2004-2005 season and No. 11 in the 2003-2004 season, with their highest finish being third place.

“The main difference from last year is that we’ve been developing our mid-level players and adding higher-end players with a lot of experience, with more higher-end players to come,” Moore said.

Other club news:
• Homecoming was not very kind to the NIU hockey team on Friday for NIU Greek Night. The Huskies lost to No. 5 Missouri State 7-2 on Friday and 5-0 on Saturday.

In Game One, the Huskies took the early advantage with Peter Alfano scoring just 30 seconds into the game. Missouri State quickly answered with three goals to end the first period with a 3-1 lead. Heading into the final frame, the Bears were up 4-2 after a shorthanded goal by Chris Bednarek cut the lead to two. The Huskies could not hang with the Bears in the final period, and lost the game 7-2.

Game Two saw much of the same from the Bears. For the weekend, the Bears posted 12 goals on 68 shots, with eight unanswered goals on the weekend.

This year’s performance against MSU was an improvement from last season, when the Huskies lost 9-0 and 6-0.

The Huskies will be in action this weekend at Edge Ice Arena for the Robert Morris College Showcase. In the tournament, they will face Robert Morris College-Chicago, RMC-Peoria and will have a rematch against RMC-Springfield. NIU won the previous two games against RMC-Springfield 10-4 and 7-4 on Oct. 24-25 at the Nelson Center in Springfield.

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