The Florida Gators became the 14th school to be ranked No. 1 in the IWLCA poll with their ascendancy to the top spot in this week’s poll. They replaced the 13th school to earn a No. 1 ranking, Northwestern, who moved to the No. 2 spot, the first time the Wildcats had not held the No. 1 spot in 2012. The Gators are the first new school to move to No. 1 since March 21, 2005, when Northwestern rose one spot to land on top of the rankings. The ALC continued to claim five ranked schools, including the top two schools in the nation with No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Northwestern. Ohio State and Penn State tied for the 13th position in the ranking, and Johns Hopkins moved up to No. 18. The ACC has five schools, including four in the top-10. Maryland moved up to No. 3 to lead the conference, with North Carolina holding at No. 5 and Duke moving up to No. 6. Virginia rounds out the top-10 at No. 10, and Boston College closes out the rankings at No. 20. The Big East’s four schools are led by Syracuse at No. 4 while Loyola moved back into the top-10 at No. 7. Notre Dame sits right behind them at No. 8, while Georgetown moved to No. 17. The Ivy League also claims four schools, starting with Ivy League tournament champion Dartmouth at No. 9. Penn moved to No. 11, with Cornell right behind Penn at No. 12. Princeton remains in the poll at No. 19. Massachusetts from the Atlantic-10 remained at No. 15 while Towson rose to land at No. 16. The NCAA tournament begins this week. On Saturday, Florida welcomes Albany, Northwestern hosts Notre Dame, Maryland takes on Massachusetts in College Park, North Carolina plays Navy, and Towson welcomes Penn State. On Sunday, Syracuse hosts Dartmouth, Duke takes on Virginia, and Loyola welcomes Penn. The IWLCA poll has no bearing on the selection or seeding in the NCAA tournament.

Also receiving votes: Albany, Harvard, Navy, Stony Brook.
This is the eleventh regular-season IWLCA poll of the 2012 season; the next poll will be released on May 28.