By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina, seconds away from winning its 23rd national championship in December, is No. 2 in the preseason United Soccer Coaches’ women’s Top 25 released Tuesday and faces the toughest schedule in the country.
The Tar Heels, 20–5–1 last season, lost to UCLA 3–2 in double overtime in the NCAA final in Cary after leading with 16 seconds remaining. The Bruins, 22–2–1 last year, are No. 1 in the preseason poll and received all eight first-place votes.
Carolina returns two All-ACC first-team picks from a year ago for Coach Anson Dorrance’s 47th season as head coach in senior midfielder Sam Meza (top photo) and redshirt sophomore forward Ally Sentnor. Also back is senior forward Avery Patterson, a second-team pick, and sophomore defender Tesa Dellarose, a third-team selection. Dellarose and forward Maddie Dahlien made the All-Freshman team.
Five of the top six teams are from the ACC, with Notre Dame (17–3–3 last year) No. 3, Duke (15–5–3) No. 4, Virginia (16–4–3) No. 5, Florida State (17–3–3) No. 6. Also in the poll are No. 14 Pittsburgh (14–5–3) and No. 25 Clemson (8–5–5), with Virginia Tech receiving votes.
The Seminoles are the reigning ACC champions after beating the Tar Heels in the league championship game in Cary 2–1.
Three of UNC’s five losses last season came against Women’s College Cup teams: two defeats against UCLA and one against Florida State.
Carolina was ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll last season, but jumped to No. 1 after a pair of victories. UCLA took over the No. 1 spot on after beating the Tar Heels 2–1 on Sept. 4, and held it the rest of the season, while the Tar Heels were No. 2 most weeks and never lower than No. 5.
According to Chris Henderson of wosoindependent.com, the strength of UNC’s schedule is the toughest in the country, as its non-conference schedule. Carolina has eight teams in the preseason Top 25 on its schedule.
The only other ACC teams in the top 20 of toughest overall schedule are Duke at No. 5, Notre Dame at No. 14 and Clemson at No. 17. Duke is tied for the fifth-toughest non-conference schedule.
After home exhibition games Monday at 1 p.m. against College of Charleston and Saturday, Aug. 12, at 6 p.m. against East Carolina, UNC opens the season at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 17 against No. 10 Penn State.
UNC faces No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Duke, No. 5 Virginia, No. 6 Florida State, No. 7 Alabama, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 12 South Carolina and No. 22.
AP Top 25
Rank | School | Prev | 1st-place votes | Poll points | W-L-T |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | UCLA | 1 | 8 | 200 | 22-2-1 |
2 | North Carolina | 2 | 0 | 192 | 20-5-1 |
3 | Notre Dame | 5 | 0 | 174 | 17-3-3 |
4 | Duke | 6 | 0 | 161 | 15-5-3 |
5 | Virginia | 7 | 0 | 155 | 16-4-3 |
6 | Florida State | 3 | 0 | 154 | 17-3-3 |
7 | Alabama | 4 | 0 | 145 | 23-3-1 |
8 | Arkansas | 8 | 0 | 137 | 13-4-5 |
9 | TCU | 10 | 0 | 130 | 14-5-5 |
10 | Penn State | 13 | 0 | 123 | 15-5-3 |
11 | Stanford | 16 | 0 | 118 | 17-2-3 |
12 | South Carolina | 9 | 0 | 111 | 15-4-5 |
13 | Brigham Young | 14 | 0 | 108 | 11-3-7 |
14 | Pittsburgh | 12 | 0 | 92 | 14-5-3 |
15 | Texas | 17 | 0 | 79 | 15-3-4 |
16 | Georgetown | 19 | 0 | 75 | 15-2-5 |
17 | Michigan State | 15 | 0 | 71 | 18-3-3 |
18 | Northwestern | 11 | 0 | 65 | 16-5-2 |
19 | Santa Clara | 22 | 0 | 52 | 11-7-3 |
20 | Memphis | NR | 0 | 47 | 11-5-6 |
21 | Saint Louis | 20 | 0 | 44 | 20-2-0 |
22 | Southern Cal | 23 | 0 | 40 | 12-3-3 |
23 | Harvard | 25 | 0 | 32 | 12-2-3 |
24 | Central Florida | 23 | 0 | 25 | 9-2-7 |
25 | Clemson | NR | 0 | 16 | 8-5-5 |
Records shown are final 2022 records.
Also receiving votes: California-Irvine (14), Xavier (9), Brown (7), Virginia Tech (7), Texas A&M (5), Southern Methodist (4), Rutgers (3), Nebraska (2), Georgia (2), Samford (1)
UNC schedule
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 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications