By R.L. Bynum

Carolina fell two spots to No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 women’s poll after losing Saturday night at Virginia Tech 2–1.

The Tar Heels (9–3–0, 2–2–0 ACC), were top-ranked before losing 2–1 to UCLA on Sept. 4, and the Bruins have remained No. 1 since then. Carolina lost to Virginia 3–2 on Sept. 17 and the Cavaliers (10–1–1, 3–1) remain No. 2.

The Hokies (9–2–1, 3–1–0) debuted in the poll at No. 24 after knocking off Carolina.

The Tar Heels return home to try to rebound at 7 Thursday night against No. 13 Pittsburgh (11–1–1, moved up one slot), which shares the ACC lead with No. 3 Florida State (8–0–2) at 4–0–0. The Seminoles moved up four spots in the poll after a 1–0 win over Miami.

Duke (8–3–0, 3–1–0) fell four spots to No. 7 after losing 1–0 at home Sunday to Virginia. The other ranked ACC team is No. 17 Notre Dame (9–2–0, 2–2–0; down one spot).

Top 25

Rank	School	Previous rank	First-place votes	Poll points	Record
1	UCLA	1	8	200	11-0-0
2	Virginia	2	0	192	10-1-1
3	Florida State	7	0	181	8-0-2
4	Alabama	5	0	173	11-1-1
5	North Carolina	3	0	165	9-3-0
6	Northwestern	8	0	150	10-1-2
7	Duke	4	0	148	8-3-0
8	Southern California	20	0	133	7-1-1
9	Arkansas	12	0	128	8-2-1
10	TCU	9	0	126	7-2-3
10	Rutgers	10	0	126	11-1-1
12	Saint Louis	11	0	101	12-1-0
13	Pittsburgh	14	0	99	11-1-0
14	Stanford	NR	0	68	9-2-1
15	Portland	18	0	67	7-0-4
16	Ohio State	NR	0	62	8-2-2
17	Notre Dame	16	0	58	9-2-0
18	Georgetown	19	0	57	8-1-3
19	Tennessee	NR	0	56	7-3-1
20	Mississippi	13	0	50	9-1-2
21	Washington State	15	0	47	8-1-2
22	Pepperdine	17	0	42	7-1-2
23	Texas	NR	0	27	8-1-3
24	Virginia Tech	NR	0	21	9-2-1
25	Harvard	25	0	20	7-0-2

Also receiving votes: Michigan State (18), Xavier (17), Wisconsin (14), Washington (14), Penn State (13), Mississippi State (12), Oklahoma State (8), South Carolina (5), Brigham Young (2).

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Event/opponent (current rank)	Location	TV/ record
	August
7	Monday	W, 8–1	College of Charleston	Home	Exhibition
12	Saturday	W, 2–0	East Carolina	Home	Exhibition
17	Thursday	T, 0–0	No. 5 Penn State	University Park, Pa.	0–0–1
20	Sunday	W, 3–1	Cal	Home	1–0–1
24	Thursday	T, 0–0	No. 12 Wisconsin	Home	1–0–2
27	Sunday	W, 4–0	No. 22 USC	Home	2–0–2
31	Thursday	W, 5–0	Gardner-Webb	Home	3–0–2
	September
3	Sunday	W, 3–1	No. 10 Arkansas	Home	4–0–2
7	Thursday	W, 2–1	No. 16 South Carolina	Columbia, S.C.	5–0–2
10	Sunday	T, 1–1	No. 24 Alabama	Tuscaloosa, Ala.	5–0–3
15	Friday	W, 1–0	Virginia Tech	Home	6–0–3, 1–0 ACC
21	Thursday	W, 1–0	Virginia	Charlottesville, Va.	7–0–3, 2–0 ACC
24	Sunday	T, 3–3	No. 1 Florida State	Home	7–0–4, 2–0–1 ACC
30	Saturday	W, 4–0	N.C. State	Raleigh	8–0–4, 3–0–1 ACC
	October
5	Thursday	W, 1–0	Miami	Home	9–0–4, 4–0–1 ACC
8	Sunday	T, 1–1	No. 25 Duke	Durham	9–0–5, 4–0–2 ACC
13	Friday	T, 1–1	No. 25 Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	9–0–6, 4–0–3 ACC
19	Thursday	T, 1–1	No. 9 Notre Dame	Home	9–0–7, 4–0–4 ACC
22	Sunday	W, 6–1	Syracuse	Home	10–0–7, 5–0–4 ACC
26	Thursday	T, 1–1	Boston College	Newton, Mass.	10–0–8, 5–0–5 ACC
			ACC tournament
29	Sunday	L, 2–1 (2 OTs)	No. 11 Pittsburgh	Chapel Hill	10–1–8
	November		NCAA tournament Link to bracket
10	Friday	W, 3–1	First round: Towson	Chapel Hill	11–1–8
17	Friday	W, 1–0	Second round: No. 24 Alabama	Lubbock, Texas	12–1–8
19	Sunday	W, 1–0	Third round: No. 4 Texas Tech	Lubbock, Texas	13–1–8
24	Friday	L, 4–3	Quarterfinals: No. 6 Brigham Young	Provo, Utah	13–2–8