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	Score	Opponent
	August
4	Sunday	W, 5–1	vs. DC Power
10	Saturday	W, 3–0	vs. Davidson
15	Thursday	W, 2–1	at Denver
18	Sunday	W, 3–2	at Colorado
22	Thursday	W, 4–3	vs. Georgia
25	Sunday	W, 2–0	vs. Arizona
29	Thursday	W, 3–0	vs. North Dakota
	September
1	Sunday	W, 2–0	vs. Seton Hall
5	Thursday	L, 1–0	at No. 3 Duke (non-ACC match)
8	Sunday	W, 2–0	vs. Columbia
12	Thursday	W, 1–0	vs. No. 5 Wake Forest
19	Thursday	W, 1–0	at Pittsburgh
22	Sunday	W, 1–0	at Syracuse
27	Friday	W, 3–2	vs. No. 19 Virginia
	October
3	Thursday	W, 5–0.	vs. Louisville
10	Thursday	W, 1–0	at Cal
13	Sunday	L, 1–0	at No. 6 Stanford
17	Thursday	W, 6–0	vs. Clemson
25	Friday	L, 4–2	at No. 6 Florida State
31	Thursday	L, 3–2	vs. No. 3 Duke
	November		ACC tournament
3	Sunday	W, 2–0	vs. Virginia Tech
7	Thursday	W, 2–1	vs. No. 1 Duke
10	Sunday	L, 3–2	vs. No. 5 Florida State
			NCAA tournament
22	Frdiay	W, 1–0	vs. No. 11 Santa Clara
24	Sunday	W, 3–0	vs. Minnesota
29	Friday	W, 2–1 OT	vs. No. 22 Penn State
	December	Women’s College Cup
6	Friday	W, 3–0	Semifinal vs. No. 1 Duke
9	Monday	W, 1–0	Final vs. No. 3 Wake Forest