By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina fell one spot to No. 3 in the latest United Soccer Coaches women’s Top 25 on Tuesday, but star freshman center back Savy King in ACC Defensive Player of the Week.
The Tar Heels (1–0–1) played Penn State (1–0–1) to a scoreless draw Thursday before knocking off Cal 3–1 in their home opener on Sunday. The Nittany Lions moved up two spots to No. 8.
King is the first true UNC freshman to earn an ACC weekly honor since a fellow defender, right back Maycee Bell, won the award in 2019. UNC coach Anson Dorrance declared that King’s performance against Penn State was the finest in program history by a freshman in her debut.
Carolina continues a stretch of five consecutive home games at 4 p.m. Thursday against Wisconsin (1–0–1) and at 1 p.m. Sunday against No. 24 USC (1–0–1), with both games streamed on ESPN3.
Florida State (2–0–0) jumped four spots to No. 2 after winning a pair of road games, beating Texas A&M 2–1 and TCU 2–0.
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Notre Dame (1–0–1) fell from No. 3 to No. 12 after it played unranked Milwaukee to a 2–2 draw and beat Ball State 3–0. Pittsburgh (2–0–0) dropped seven spots to No. 21 after beating Buffalo 2–1 and Drexel 4–1.
Duke (1–0–0) stayed at No. 4 and Virginia (2–0–0) remained No. 5. Clemson (1–0–1) moved up six spots to No. 19 after the Tigers played South Carolina to a scoreless draw and rolled past future UNC opponent Gardner-Webb 9–0.
Top 25
| Rank | School | Previous | 1st-place votes | Poll points | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCLA | 1 | 8 | 200 | 1-0-0 |
| 2 | Florida State | 6 | 0 | 192 | 2-0-0 |
| 3 | North Carolina | 2 | 0 | 183 | 1-0-1 |
| 4 | Duke | 4 | 0 | 172 | 1-0-0 |
| 5 | Virginia | 5 | 0 | 152 | 2-0-0 |
| 6 | Stanford | 11 | 0 | 148 | 2-0-0 |
| 7 | Alabama | 7 | 0 | 144 | 2-0-0 |
| 8 | Penn State | 10 | 0 | 138 | 1-0-1 |
| 9 | Texas | 15 | 0 | 135 | 2-0-0 |
| 10 | Arkansas | 8 | 0 | 131 | 1-0-0 |
| 11 | Brigham Young | 13 | 0 | 115 | 2-0-0 |
| 12 | Notre Dame | 3 | 0 | 96 | 1-0-1 |
| 13 | Santa Clara | 19 | 0 | 90 | 2-0-0 |
| 14 | Michigan State | 17 | 0 | 84 | 2-0-0 |
| 15 | South Carolina | 12 | 0 | 79 | 1-0-1 |
| 16 | TCU | 9 | 0 | 78 | 1-1-0 |
| 17 | Memphis | 20 | 0 | 57 | 2-0-0 |
| 17 | Xavier | NR | 0 | 57 | 2-0-0 |
| 19 | Clemson | 25 | 0 | 55 | 1-0-1 |
| 20 | Georgetown | 16 | 0 | 47 | 1-0-1 |
| 21 | Pittsburgh | 14 | 0 | 43 | 2-0-0 |
| 22 | Central Florida | 24 | 0 | 37 | 1-0-0 |
| 23 | Washington State | NR | 0 | 36 | 2-0-0 |
| 24 | USC | 22 | 0 | 35 | 1-0-0 |
| 25 | Tennessee | NR | 0 | 27 | 2-0-0 |
Also receiving votes: West Virginia (17), Gonzaga (13), Wisconsin (10), Virginia Tech (8), Saint Louis (8), University of California-Irvine (3), Northwestern (3), Harvard (3), N.C. State (2), Brown (1), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1).
| Date | Month/day | Time/ score | Opponent (current rankings) | Record/ TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | ||||
| 5 | Wednesday | W, 1–0 | vs. No. 10 South Carolina | Exhib. |
| 13 | Thursday | W, 4–0 | vs. Fairfield | 1–0 |
| 16 | Sunday | W, 8–0 | vs. Quinnipiac | 2–0 |
| 20 | Thursday | W, 2–0 | at No. 20 Arkansas | 3–0 |
| 23 | Sunday | L, 3–2 | vs. No. 6 Michigan State | 3–1 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 3–0 | at Shelbourne FC | Friendly |
| September | ||||
| 3 | Thursday | W, 2–1 | at Arizona | 4–1 |
| 6 | Sunday | W, 1–0 | at Arizona State | 5–1 |
| 10 | Thursday | W, 3–0 | vs. California | 6–1, 1–0 ACC |
| 13 | Sunday | W, 5–0 | vs. NJIT | 7–1 |
| 17 | Thursday | W, 4–2 | vs. No. 5 Duke | 8–1, 2–0 |
| 20 | Sunday | W, 5–0 | vs. Alcorn State | 9–1 |
| 25 | Friday | W, 3–1 | at No. 19 Virginia | 10–1, 3–0 |
| October | ||||
| 2 | Friday | W, 4–1 | vs. No. 9 Notre Dame | 11–1, 4–0 |
| 15 | Thursday | W, 1–0 | at Clemson | 12–1, 5–0 |
| 18 | Sunday | L, 3–1 | at No. 4 Wake Forest | 12–2, 5–1 |
| 23 | Friday | W, 1–0 | vs. No. 13 Stanford | 13–2, 6–1 |
| 29 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. SMU | ACCNE |
| November | ||||
| 5 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | at No. 12 Louisville | ACCNE |
| 8, 12, 15 | Sunday, Thur., Sun. | ACC tournament | Semifinals, final in Cary | |
| NCAA tournament | (first four rounds at campus sites) | |||
| 20-22 | Fri.-Sun | First round | ||
| 26 | Thursday | Second round | ||
| 29 | Sunday | Third round | ||
| December | ||||
| 4, 5 | Fri., Sat. | Quarterfinals | ||
| 10, 13 | Thur., Sun. | Women’s College Cup Cary |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
