The Northwestern Wildcats, the 2012 national champions, finished the 2012 season right where they started: at No. 1. The team from Evanston, Ill. picked up its second consecutive national championship, and seventh in school history, with an 8-6 win over Syracuse in the NCAA final on Sunday, and on Monday the coaches returned the ‘Cats to the top of the poll. The same 20 schools remain the poll from the final regular season edition, with the top-10 also remaining the same. The ALC claimed five ranked schools, starting with No. 1 Northwestern. Florida moved to No. 3, while Penn State rose to start the second half of the poll at No. 11. Ohio State moved to No. 15 and Johns Hopkins remained at No. 18. The ACC also has five schools in the final poll, with Maryland leading the charge at No. 4. North Carolina (No. 5) and Duke (No. 6) follow in succession, and Virginia’s No. 8 ranking gives the league four of the top eight schools. Boston College rose one spot to No. 19. The Big East has four ranked schools, including national runner-up Syracuse, who ended up at No. 2. Loyola remained at No. 7 and Notre Dame moved to No. 9 as the conference claimed three top-10 teams. The Ivy League’s four schools begin with Dartmouth at No. 10. Dartmouth, Penn (No. 12), Cornell (No. 13), and Princeton (No. 20) all dropped one spot from the final regular season poll. Massachusetts from the Atlantic-10 rose to No. 14 while Towson from the CAA remained at No. 16. 

Also receiving votes: Albany, Navy, Stony Brook, Vanderbilt.
This is the final regular-season IWLCA poll of the 2012 season.