Notre Dame Edges UCLA to Remain at No. 1 in March 4 Women's National Collegiate Club Poll

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The University of Notre Dame saw its point lead slip for the third week in a row as the Fighting Irish garnered 93 points this week to hold onto the No. 1 ranking in the March 4 Women's National Collegiate Club Poll over a rising University of California-Los Angeles.

Ranked No. 1 for the past six weeks, Notre Dame held off UCLA, which remains at No. 2, by a single point as the Bruins garnered 92 points this week. The gap between No. 1 and No. 3 also tightened this week from 10 points in the February 25 poll to four points this week as the University of California-Davis and the University of Michigan are now tied in the three spot.

Defending National Champion California Polytechnic State University edged in front of the University of Oregon to take over at No. 5, while the University of California-Santa Cruz remains at No. 7 in the poll for another week.  The University fo Pennsylvania and University of Texas both improved one place to No. 8 and No. 9, while the University of Utah used a strong performance in clinching the Southwest Division regular season title to move from "Receiving Votes" to No. 10 in this week's poll.

Grand Valley State University also experienced a dramatic improvement as the Lakers lost a tight game to No. 1 Notre Dame and jumped five spots to No. 11.  The University of California-San Diego, Michigan State University, University of Colorado and University of Central Florida account for No. 12-15.

In the final five positions of the Top 20, the University of Arizona drops eight places into a tie with Boston College at No. 16, with San Diego State University, the University of Florida and Middlebury College accounting for the final three positions among the nation's 20-best collegiate club teams according to the pollsters.