Pacific-10 Conference champion Stanford is the No. 1 team in Soccer America's final Top 25 rankings for the 2002 college women's soccer season. The Cardinal, in the top spot the past five weeks and six of the past seven, completed a perfect Pac-10 campaign on Sunday, going 9-0-0 and surrendering only one goal.
Stanford (18-1-0), which has allowed only four goals all season, was ranked No. 7 in the preseason Top 25 but vaulted to No. 3 following a 3-0 win at defending NCAA Division I champion Santa Clara in its Aug. 30 opener. Wins over Texas and Texas A&M sent Stanford to No. 2 the following week, and it took the top spot for the first time on Sept. 30, following then-No. 1 North Carolina's 0-0 tie with Portland.
The Cardinal's only loss of the season, a 1-0 decision Oct. 4 to North Carolina, dropped it a spot, but it took the No. 1 position for good on Oct. 14 after North Carolina lost to North Carolina State.
The Tar Heels return to the No. 2 spot, after a week at No. 3, following impressive dominance at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. They outscored three foes, 13-0, winning their 14th successive conference tournament title with a 6-0 rout of Clemson, which dropped from 12th to 14th in the SA 25.
Nebraska, which shook off its struggles to beat Texas and Texas A in the Big 12 Conference tournament, returns to the rankings — at No. 10 — after twice falling out. A, the Big 12 regular-season champ, falls from fourth to ninth, and Texas drops from sixth to 11th,
Pepperdine moves to No. 5 after winning a share of the West Coast Conference, the first WCC champion other than Santa Clara or Portland. The Broncos, who shared the title, are No. 4 and Portland is No. 7.
Connecticut impressively captured its first Big East Conference tournament title, shutting out Villanova and West Virginia last week, to climb from 11th to sixth. West Virginia drops a spot, to eighth, and Villanova tumbles from 14th to 20th.
Tennessee is No. 12 after winning the Southeastern Conference tournament and Denver is No. 15 after dominating the Sun Belt Conference tourney. Mountain West Conference champ BYU returns to the Top 25, at No. 17, and Conference USA titlist Cincinnati — unranked all season — is No. 22 after winning its tournament. Charlotte, the C-USA regular-season winner, falls from 13th to 23rd after dropping its first game of the season, to Marquette in the conference semifinals.
There are five Pac-10 (No. 1 Stanford, No. 3 UCLA, No. 16 Washington State, No. 18 California and No. 25 Arizona State) and five ACC (No. 2 North Carolina, No. 14 Clemson, No. 19 Maryland, No. 21 Duke and No. 24 Virginia) teams on the list.
Falling from the Top 25 are USC (was 15th, routed at Washington State and Washington), Florida State (was 22nd, lost at home to Maryland in the ACC quarterfinals) and Saint Louis (was 25th, fell to Marquette in the C-USA quarterfinals).
11/11 Team (Record) 11/4
1 Stanford (18-1-0) 1
2 North Carolina (17-1-4) 3
3 UCLA (16-3-0) 2
4 Santa Clara (15-4-1) 5
5 Pepperdine (16-1-2) 8
6 Connecticut (18-2-1) 11
7 Portland (14-4-2) 9
8 West Virginia (17-2-1) 7
9 Texas A&M (17-4-1) 4
10 Nebraska (14-5-3) NR
11 Texas (15-4-1) 6
12 Tennessee (16-5-1) 16
13 Penn State (15-3-1) 10
14 Clemson (14-7-0) 12
15 Denver (17-1-2) 17
16 Washington State (11-6-2) 20
17 Brigham Young (16-5-0) NR
18 California (11-7-1) 21
19 Maryland (12-7-2) 19
20 Villanova (14-2-4) 14
21 Duke (9-9-2) 24
22 Cincinnati (16-3-3) NR
23 Charlotte (16-1-2) 13
24 Virginia (11-6-2) 18
25 Arizona State (11-6-2) 23