UNC remains unanimous No. 1 in women’s soccer poll; men jump 11 spots to No. 13

By R.L. Bynum

UNC remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the United Soccer Coaches women’s poll Tuesday and faces challenging upcoming matches, while Carolina jumped 11 spots to No. 13 in the men’s poll.

Coach Anson Dorrance’s women (4–0–0) got all eight first-place votes for the second consecutive season. The Tar Heels have outscored their opponents 13–0 after outscoring two exhibition opponents 7–0.

They won two games in Texas last weekend, beating the Longhorns 2–0 and Baylor 6–0, with six Tar Heels scoring against the Bears. Midfielder Avery Patterson scored both goals against Texas and one goal against Baylor.

After Thursday’s 1 p.m. game at Missouri (SEC Network+), Carolina meets two powerhouse opponents in No. 3 UCLA on Sunday at Dorrance Field and No. 2 Duke on Thursday, Sept. 8, in Durham.

UCLA (3–0–0) jumped three spots from No. 6 after beating Iowa 1–0, Cal State, Northridge 6–0 and Santa Clara 1–0. Duke (4–0–0) moved up from No. 5 after beating the same Tennessee team 3–2 that UNC beat 3–0.

Other ACC women’s teams moving up were Virginia (4–0–0) from No. 8 to No. 5 and Notre Dame (4–0–0) from unranked to No. 16.

Florida State (1–0–2) dropped from No. 2 to No. 10 after tying No. 4 South Carolina 0–0 and No. 11 Auburn 1–1.

Coach Carlos Somoano’s men’s team (2–0–0) moved up from No. 24 to No. 13 after defeating South Florida 1–0 Sunday for his 150th career victory. His Tar Heels opened the season Thursday with a 2–1 victory over Air Force.

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Fifth-year midfielder Milo Garvanian scored one of the goals against the Falcons and the only goal against the Bulls.

Carolina returns home Saturday night at 7:30 against Florida International (1–1–0), which was preseason No. 18 but fell out of the poll after a 5–3 home loss Thursday to Akron.

Among ACC teams, Clemson (2–0–0) remains No. 1, with Pittsburgh (2–0–0) jumping from No. 7 to No. 2, Wake Forest (2–0–0) moving from No. 15 to No. 5 and Syracuse (2–0–0) from unranked to No. 15.

Notre Dame (1–1–0) plummeted from No. 4 to No. 22 after a 3–1 loss to Seattle, and Duke (2–0–0) fell from No. 12 to No. 17.

Women’s Top 25

RankTeamPointsRecordPrevious
1North Carolina (8)2004-0-01
2Duke1834-0-05
3UCLA1713-0-06
4South Carolina1693-0-14
5Virginia1664-0-08
6BYU1562-0-19
6TCU1563-0-17
8Penn State1423-0-110
9Rutgers1394-0-03
10Florida State1241-0-22
11Auburn1082-0-216
12Stanford1033-0-013
13Mississippi893-0-112
14Pepperdine873-0-114
15Southern Methodist862-0-115
16Notre Dame804-0-0NR
17Georgetown771-1-211
18Texas A&M453-0-1NR
19Xavier403-0-1NR
20Colorado393-0-125
21West Virginia372-1-121
22Wisconsin362-0-224
23Memphis303-1-0NR
24Michigan253-1-0NR
25Samford243-0-1NR

Also receiving votes: N.C. State (22), Central Florida (13),Texas (11), Wake Forest (9), Alabama (8), Tennessee (7), Ohio State (5), Arkansas (4), Butler (4), Saint Louis (2), Virginia Tech (2), Portland (1)

Men’s Top 25

RankTeamPointsRecordPrevious
1Clemson (7)1992-0-01
2Pittsburgh (1)1872-0-07
3Stanford1602-0-0NR
4UCLA1452-0-023
5Wake Forest1392-0-015
6Kentucky1332-0-08
7Creighton1312-0-0NR
8Washington1272-0-03
9Maryland1211-0-120
10Oregon State1111-0-15
11Marshall961-1-014
12Charlotte932-0-0NR
13North Carolina912-0-024
14Akron852-0-0NR
15Syracuse842-0-0NR
16Tulsa821-0-011
17Duke742-0-012
18West Virginia711-1-06
19Georgetown640-1-12
20Denver622-0-0NR
21Indiana540-1-013
22Notre Dame401-1-04
23Lipscomb332-0-0NR
24Loyola Marymount282-0-0NR
25Missouri State271-0-119

Also receiving votes: UNC Greensboro (23), Butler (19), UCSB (18), Louisville (18), Vermont (16), Dayton (14), Portland (13), FIU (10), Campbell (9), UMBC (9), Loyola (MD) (6), Hofstra (4), Liberty (3), Loyola Chicago (1)

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications

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