It's no surprise that Northwestern University is the unanimous No. 1 pick of the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Division I Preseason Poll after dominating the sport for the last several years. 

The five-time defending NCAA champions took all 20 first-place votes in the poll, while three other American Lacrosse Conference foes also earned preseason national rankings - No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 16 Ohio State and No. 18 Penn State.   Four Atlantic Coast Conference schools landed in the Top 10, starting with 2009 NCAA semifinalist Maryland at No. 2, followed by last year's NCAA runner-up North Carolina at No. 4, No. 5 Duke and No. 10 Virginia.

While most schools open the 2010 season this weekend, the top-ranked Wildcats already have their first victory in the books after downing the University of Massachusetts, 18-6, at the WomenLax.com Surfside Cup in San Diego last weekend.  The win extended NU's winning streak to 30 games, and the Wildcats' 18 goals against the Minutewomen were above last year's record-setting average of 17.7 per game.

Northwestern's Shannon Smith tallied a career-high nine points versus UMass on a career-best six goals and three assists, leading a group of nine different Wildcats that recorded a point in the contest.

After getting their first win under their belts, the Wildcats are off for almost three weeks before traveling to the Golden State once again for a pair of contests -- Stanford (Feb. 26) and California (Feb. 28).

IWLCA Division I Preseason Poll

                                    Record Votes   (1st pl) 

1. Northwestern             1-0        400       (20)      

2. Maryland                   0-0        376

3. Pennsylvania             0-0        354

4. North Carolina           0-0        345

5. Duke                        0-0        313

6. Syracuse                  0-0        286

7. Georgetown              0-0        280

8. Notre Dame              0-0        247

9. Princeton                 0-0        240

10. Virginia                  0-0        239

11. Vanderbilt              0-0        184

12. Boston University   0-0        178

13. Stanford                0-0        153

14. Loyola                  0-0        134

15. Dartmouth            0-0        112

16. Ohio State            0-0        79

17. Towson                0-0        68

18. Penn State           0-0        62

19. Cornell                 0-0        38

20. William and Mary  0-0        31