The Northwestern Wildcats remained on top of the top-20 by sweeping all 20 firstplace votes, a feat they accomplished for the fifth consecutive week, while the same 20 schools remained in the rankings from last week’s edition. Also for a fifth consecutive week, the ALC boasts all six playing schools in the top-20 while the ACC claims five ranked schools and the Big East and the Ivy League both have four schools each in the poll. The ALC is led by top-ranked Northwestern; Florida holds at No. 5 and Penn State moves back into the top-10 at No. 10. Ohio State moves to No. 12 while Johns Hopkins rises to No. 18 and Vanderbilt moves to No. 19. The ACC also has three schools in the top-10, starting with No. 3 North Carolina. The Tar Heels are just ahead of No. 4 Maryland and No. 6 Duke. Virginia goes to No. 12 and Boston College rises to No. 17. The Big East’s four schools include two in the top half of the poll; Syracuse holds at No. 2 and Notre Dame jumps up to No. 7. Loyola moves to No. 14, right in front of No. 15 Georgetown. The Ivy League also has two top-10 schools, with No. 8 Dartmouth just ahead of No. 9 Penn. Cornell rises to No. 13 while Princeton remains in the poll at No. 20. Massachusetts from the Atlantic-10 holds steady at No. 16. On Tuesday, the No. 2 Orange travel to face in-state rival and No. 13 Cornell. On Wednesday, the No. 7 Irish welcome No. 19 Vanderbilt. The ACC Tournament kicks off on Friday, with No. 4 Maryland playing Virginia Tech and No. 11 Virginia taking on No. 17 Boston College. On Saturday, the ACC semifinals take place with the winner of the Maryland-VT game playing Duke and the winner of the Virginia/Boston College matchup playing No. 3 North Carolina. Also on Saturday, four key regular season games are on the line that feature ranked teams. Topranked Northwestern hosts No. 5 Florida while No. 10 Penn State welcomes No. 18 Johns Hopkins in ALC action. No. 8 Dartmouth travels to face No. 20 Princeton and No. 15 Georgetown hosts No. 7 Notre Dame on Saturday as well.
| Record | Votes (1st Pl) | Previous | |
| 1. Northwestern | 14-0 | 400 (20) | 1 |
| 2. Syracuse | 10-2 | 376 | 2 |
| 3. North Carolina | 14-2 | 359 | 3 |
| 4. Maryland | 13-3 | 336 | 4 |
| 5. Florida | 14-2 | 3212 | 5 |
| 6. Duke | 10-5 | 290 | 6 |
| 7. Notre Dame | 10-2 | 259 | 8 |
| 8. Dartmouth | 9-2 | 248 | 9 |
| 9. Pennsylvania | 6-5 | 222 | 7 |
| 10. Penn State | 10-4 | 215 | 13 |
| 11. Virginia | 10-5 | 183 | 12 |
| 12. Ohio State | 9-4 | 174 | 10 |
| 13. Cornell | 8-3 | 168 | 15 |
| 14. Loyola | 8-4 | 138 | 11 |
| 15. Georgetown | 8-5 | 129 | 14 |
| 16. Massachusetts | 14-1 | 117 | 16 |
| 17. Boston College | 8-7 | 64 | 20 |
| 18. Johns Hopkins | 7-6 | 61 | 19 |
| 19. Vanderbilt | 7-6 | 57 | 17 |
| 20. Princeton | 6-6 | 43 | 18 |
Also receiving votes: Denver, Harvard, James Madison, Stony Brook, Towson.
This is the eighth regular-season IWLCA poll of the 2012 season; the next poll will be released on April 24.
Tag(s): 2012