By R.L. Bynum

National observers may not have been that impressed with Carolina’s women’s soccer team before the season began, but that has quickly changed.

The Tar Heels were ranked No. 10 in the preseason United Soccer Coaches poll, but after defeating a pair of teams ranked in the top 11 of the preseason poll, they zoomed all the way to earning a unanimous No. 1 ranking in the latest poll Tuesday while some other ACC teams dropped. UNC got all eight first-place votes.

It’s Carolina’s first No. 1 ranking since Nov. 10, 2020. Since 2000, UNC is 135–11–2 as the top-ranked team.

Carolina won both of its exhibition games, including a 2–0 victory over then No. 3 BYU (which fell to No. 9) and won its first two regular-season games last week, including a 3–0 win over then No. 11 Tennessee (which fell to No. 22).

Carolina (2–0–0) has combined to win the two exhibition games and two regular-season games 12–0. In the Tar Heels’ 2–0 Sunday win over UNCW, they outshot the Seahawks 23–2.

Preseason No. 1 Florida State fell to No. 2 after a scoreless draw against then No. 12 South Carolina (now No. 4) and a 3–1 win over Georgia. Duke, which lost an exhibition to Georgia 2–1, fell from No. 2 to No. 5 after a 1–0 win at East Carolina and a 3–1 home win over UNC Greensboro.

Virginia, which lost an exhibition to Illinois 2–1 and tied Michigan 1–1 in an exhibition, fell from No. 4 to No. 8 after a 3–1 win over George Mason and a 6–0 victory over Loyola Marymount.

Clemson moved up from No. 25 to No. 18 after a scoreless tie with Texas A&M and a 6–1 victory over Campbell.

Duke was picked to win the ACC with Virginia second and UNC third.

Also on Tuesday, senior Tori Hansen (middle in top photo) was named ACC Women’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career. Hansen, who played 180 minutes in the first two games, headed in a goal against Tennessee.

UNC returns to action at 8 p.m. Thursday at Texas (Longhorn Network.)

Top 25

Rank	Team (first-place votes)	Points	Record	Preseason rank
1	North Carolina (8)	200	2-0-0	10
2	Florida State	175	1-0-1	1
3	Rutgers	161	2-0-0	6
4	South Carolina	158	1-0-1	12
5	Duke	157	2-0-0	2
6	UCLA	154	1-0-0	13
7	TCU	148	1-0-1	7
8	Virginia	135	2-0-0	4
9	BYU	133	1-0-0	3
10	Penn State	122	0-0-1	14
11	Georgetown	121	1-0-1	19
12	Ole Miss	111	2-0-0	18
13	Stanford	95	1-0-0	21
14	Pepperdine	73	2-0-0	17
15	SMU	67	1-0-1	23
16	Auburn	66	2-0-0	NR
17	Butler	61	2-0-0	NR
18	Clemson	57	1-0-1	25
19	Saint Louis	43	2-0-0	NR
20	Ohio State	42	2-0-0	NR
21	West Virginia	39	1-0-1	NR
22	Tennessee	35	0-1-1	11
23	UCF	35	1-0-1	NR
24	Wisconsin	33	1-0-1	NR
25	Colorado	29	2-0-0	NR

Also receiving votes: Notre Dame (28), Michigan (26), Texas A&M (19), Samford (17), Texas (16), N.C. State (16), Arkansas (10), Santa Clara (9), Washington (4), Xavier (2), UC-Irvine (2), Wake Forest (1).

Date	Month/day	Game/score	Opponent (current rank)	Location	TV/ record
	August
7	Sunday	W, 5–0	VCU	Home	Exhibition
13	Saturday	W, 2–0	BYU	Home	Exhibition
18	Thursday	W, 3–0	Tennessee	Home	1–0–0
21	Sunday	W, 2–0	UNCW	Home	2–0–0
25	Thursday	W, 2–0	Texas	Austin, Texas	3–0–0
28	Sunday	W, 6–0	Baylor	Austin, Texas	4–0–0
	September
1	Thursday	W, 3–1	Missouri	Columbia, Mo.	5–0–0
4	Sunday	L, 2–1	No. 1 UCLA	Home	5–1–0
8	Thursday	W, 3–0	X-No. 8 Duke	Durham	6–1–0
11	Sunday	W, 2–1	Central Florida	Home	7–1–0
17	Saturday	L, 3–2	No. 11 Virginia	Home	7–2–0, 0–1–0 ACC
22	Thursday	W, 1–0	Syracuse	Syracuse, N.Y.	8–2–0, 1–1–0 ACC
25	Sunday	W, 3–0	Boston College	Home	9–2–0, 2–1–0 ACC
	October
1	Saturday	L, 2–1	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	9–3–0, 2–2–0 ACC
6	Thursday	W, 4–0	No. 19 Pittsburgh	Home	10–3–0, 3–2–0 ACC
9	Sunday	W, 2–0	N.C. State	Home	11–3–0, 4–2–0 ACC
14	Friday	W, 1–0	Wake Forest	Home	12–3–0, 5–2–0 ACC
20	Thursday	W, 2–1	No. 5 Florida State	Tallahassee, Fla.	13–3–0, 6–2–0 ACC
23	Sunday	W, 4–0	Miami	Coral Gables, Fla.	14–3–0, 7–2–0 ACC
27	Thursday	W, 1–0	Louisville	Louisville, Ky.	15–3–0, 8–2–0 ACC
	November		ACC tournament
3	Thursday	T, 0–0, 2 OTs (UNC advances 7–6 on PKs)	Semifinal vs. No. 8 Duke	Cary	15–3–1
6	Sunday	L, 2–1	Final vs. No. 5 Florida State	Cary	15–4–1
			NCAA tournament
12	Saturday	W, 5–0	First round: Old Dominion	Chapel Hill	16–4–1
17	Thursday	W, 3–1	Second round: Georgia	Chapel Hill	17–4–1
19	Saturday	W, 3–2	Third round: No. 15 BYU	Chapel Hill	18–4–1
26	Saturday	W, 2–0	Quarterfinals: No. 4 Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	19–4–1
	December		College Cup
2	Friday	W, 3–2	Semifinals: No. 5 Florida State	Cary	20–4–1
5	Monday	L, 3–2, 2 OTs	Championship: No. 1 UCLA	Cary	20–5–1

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications