By R.L. Bynum
After a pair of dominant victories to start the season, North Carolina moved up one spot in the United Soccer Coaches women’s soccer Top 25 to No. 7 and sophomore forward Bella Devey is the ACC Offensive Player of the Week.
Devey notched a brace in the Tar Heels’ 4–0 opening-match victory Thursday over Fairfield and produced a hat trick in Sunday’s 8–0 thrashing of Quinnipiac. With a team-leading five goals, she’s already matched her total last season and leads the team with 10 points.
Three big changes in the poll were drops by Notre Dame, UCLA and Arkansas, the latter the Tar Heels’ opponent at 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday in Fayetteville, Ark. (ESPNU). UNC’s 1 p.m. Sunday home opponent, Michigan State (1–0–1), moved up two spots to No. 5.
The Irish (0–0–2) dropped from No. 2 in the preseason poll to No. 8 after starting their season with two draws: 2–2 against Penn State and 0–0 against Samford.
The Bruins (0–1–1) plummeted from No. 9 to No. 20 after a 2–1 home loss to BYU and a 1–1 draw with Duke (1–0–1), which moved up one spot to No. 2. The Blue Devils opened the season with a 3–1 win at Southern Cal. The Cougars (1–0) moved from unranked to No. 9 after that win over UCLA.
The Razorbacks (0–1–1) went from No. 10 to not even getting any votes after losing 4–1 to Baylor (2–0–0), which went from unranked to No. 6, and playing Loyola Maryland to a 1–1 road draw.
UNC, Duke and Notre Dame are among eight ACC teams in the Top 25. Also ranked are No. 1 Stanford (1–0), No. 3 Florida State (2–0; up one spot), No. 11 Wake Forest (2–0; up seven spots), No. 13 Virginia (2–0; down two spots) and No. 24 Clemson (0–0–2; up one spot).
Subscribe to read Tar Heel Tribune ad-free
Subscribe for a cleaner, smoother reading experience without the flashing banners, slow-loading elements, or those especially annoying pop‑up ads that interrupt the flow of the story. You’ll also get the first version of each story emailed to you. The only ads you’ll see are static, non-intrusive ads for UNC‑related books, and there are none currently on the site.
Top 25
| Rank | School | Previous | 1st-place votes | Poll points | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford | 1 | 6 | 196 | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | Duke | 3 | 1 | 189 | 1–0–1 |
| 3 | Florida State | 4 | 0 | 182 | 2–0–0 |
| 3 | Vanderbilt | 5 | 1 | 182 | 2–0–0 |
| 5 | Michigan State | 7 | 0 | 164 | 1–0–0 |
| 6 | Baylor | RV | 0 | 155 | 2–0–0 |
| 7 | North Carolina | 8 | 0 | 144 | 2–0–0 |
| 8 | Notre Dame | 2 | 0 | 142 | 0–0–2 |
| 9 | Brigham Young | RV | 0 | 134 | 1–0–0 |
| 10 | Washington | 12 | 0 | 129 | 1–0–0 |
| 11 | Wake Forest | 18 | 0 | 120 | 2–0–0 |
| 12 | Kansas | 15 | 0 | 111 | 2–0–0 |
| 13 | Virginia | 11 | 0 | 96 | 2–0–0 |
| 14 | Georgetown | 14 | 0 | 93 | 1–0–0 |
| 15 | TCU | 6 | 0 | 87 | 1–0–1 |
| 16 | Tennessee | 24 | 0 | 81 | 2–0–0 |
| 17 | Colorado | 13 | 0 | 71 | 2–0–0 |
| 18 | Alabama | NR | 0 | 66 | 2–0–0 |
| 19 | Ohio State | 17 | 0 | 58 | 0–0–1 |
| 20 | UCLA | 9 | 0 | 48 | 0–1–1 |
| 21 | Memphis | 21 | 0 | 37 | 1–1–0 |
| 22 | West Virginia | 20 | 0 | 33 | 1–0–0 |
| 23 | Penn State | RV | 0 | 27 | 0–0–1 |
| 24 | Clemson | 25 | 0 | 17 | 0–0–2 |
| 25 | Georgia | 19 | 0 | 16 | 0–0v2 |
Also receiving votes: Samford (12), Wisconsin (4), Iowa (2), Santa Clara (1) and SMU (1)
| Date | Month/day | Time/ score | Opponent (current rankings) | Record/ TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | ||||
| 5 | Wednesday | W, 1–0 | vs. No. 11 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 Arkansas | 3–0 |
| 23 | Sunday | L, 3–2 | vs. No. 2 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. 6 Duke | 8–1, 2–0 |
| 20 | Sunday | W, 5–0 | vs. Alcorn State | 9–1 |
| 25 | Friday | W, 3–1 | at No. 15 Virginia | 10–1, 3–0 |
| October | ||||
| 2 | Friday | W, 4–1 | vs. No. 12 Notre Dame | 11–1, 4–0 |
| 9 | Friday | 7 p.m. | at Florida State | ESPNU |
| 15 | Thursday | 8 p.m. | at No. 23 Clemson | ACCN |
| 18 | Sunday | 3:30 | at No. 4 Wake Forest | ACCN |
| 23 | Friday | 6 p.m. | vs. No. 8 Stanford | ACCN |
| 29 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | vs. SMU | ACCNE |
| November | ||||
| 5 | Thursday | 7 p.m. | at No. 25 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 by Jackson Gerding
