The Northwestern Wildcats maintained their position on top of the rankings, taking 18 of the 20 first-place votes while ALC rival Florida held on to one top vote and Syracuse from the Big East also kept one vote for No. 1 as the final week of the regular season kicks off. Towson from the CAA joined the poll this week as the CAA Tournament champions move into the No. 20 slot. The ALC claimed five ranked schools, including No. 1 Northwestern and No. 3 Florida. No. 11 Penn State started off the second half of the poll, while Ohio State moved to No. 14 and Johns Hopkins held at No. 19. The ACC also boasts five schools, including four in the top-10. Maryland moved up to No. 4 and North Carolina slid to No. 5, while Duke held at No. 7 and Virginia moved to No. 8. Boston College remained at No. 18. The Big East has four ranked schools, including two in the top-six. Syracuse remained at No. 2 and Notre Dame stayed at No. 6. Loyola jumped to No. 12 and Georgetown moved to No. 16. The Ivy League also has four schools that appear in the top-20, led by Penn at No. 9. Cornell rounds out the top-10 at No. 10, and Dartmouth moved to No. 13. Princeton remained at No. 17. Massachusetts, the A-10 champion, moved up to No. 15 while the CAA champion Towson Tigers moved into the top-20 at No. 20. The ALC, Ivy, and the Big East championships both take place this week, starting on Thursday. No. 2 Syracuse hosts No. 16 Georgetown while No. 6 Notre Dame plays No. 12 Loyola. On Friday in Florida, No. 11 Penn State plays No. 19 Johns Hopkins and No. 14 Ohio State plays Vanderbilt. On Friday, No. 3 Florida plays the winner of the Ohio State/Vanderbilt game and No. 1 Northwestern faces the winner of the Penn State/Johns Hopkins contest. In Ivy play, No. 10 Cornell plays No. 13 Dartmouth and host, No. 9 Penn, plays Harvard.

Also receiving votes: Harvard, James Madison, Stony Brook.
This is the tenth regular-season IWLCA poll of the 2012 season; the next poll will be released on May 8.