The Northwestern Wildcats, the reigning national champions, remain in the top spot as the IWLCA released its first weekly regular-season poll, claiming 18 of the 20 top votes. The North Carolina Tar Heels move up to the No. 2 spot, picking up the other two first-place votes. The ALC tied their own record with six schools ranked in the poll; the conference is the only league in history to have all of its member institutions in the top-20 in one week. The ALC’s record six schools are led by top-ranked Northwestern while Florida holds steady at No. 4. Ohio State moves into the top-10 at No. 10, while Vanderbilt starts off the second half of the poll at No. 11. Penn State moves to No. 19 while Johns Hopkins enters the poll at No. 20. The ACC has five schools in the rankings; four reside in the top-six. North Carolina leads the league at No. 2, just edging No. 3 Maryland. Duke holds at No. 5 and Virginia moves to No. 6 while Boston College drops to No. 17. The Big East claims four schools in the top-20, led by Syracuse at No. 9. Loyola sits at No. 12, while Notre Dame moves up to No. 14 and Georgetown drops to No. 18. The Ivy League claims three schools in the rankings, with Penn leading the way at No. 7, just ahead of No. 8 Princeton. Dartmouth comes in at No. 15 for the first weekly poll. Two conferences are represented by one school each. James Madison from the CAA moves to No. 13 while Stanford from the MPSF drops to No. 16. On Wednesday, a top-20 match-up takes place between two Baltimore schools as No. 20 Johns Hopkins hosts No. 12 Loyola while two top-10 schools will draw in Syracuse as the No. 9 Orange welcome the top-ranked Northwestern. On Friday, another top-10 contest unfolds as No. 3 Maryland takes on No. 6 Virginia. Eight top-20 teams meet up on Saturday; three of those games are between two top-10 teams. Two games feature an ACC team against an Ivy League team as No. 5 Duke travels to No. 8 Princeton and No. 2 North Carolina hosts No. 7 Penn. No. 9 Syracuse plays its second consecutive top-five ALC team as they travel to No. 4 Florida. No. 11 Vanderbilt goes west to take on No. 16 Stanford on the same day. On Sunday, No. 10 Ohio State welcomes No. 14 Notre Dame and the No. 6 Cavaliers continue their road swing, taking on No. 19 Penn State in Pennsylvania. 

 

Also receiving votes: Albany, Harvard, Massachusetts, Stony Brook, Towson.
This is the first regular-season IWLCA poll of the 2012 season; the next poll will be released on March 5.