NO. 1: Alyssa Ramsey scored her fifth and sixth goals of the season and freshman Lindsay Tarpley netted her fourth and fifth as No. 1 North Carolina cemented its hold on the top spot in Soccer America's Top 25 with victories over No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 3 Texas at the Houston College Challenge in Spring, Texas.

The Tar Heels (5-0-1) have played five ranked teams and face showdowns with No. 6 Portland — a rematch of last year's College Cup semifinal — and No. 2 Stanford before facing a tough Atlantic Coast Conference schedule.

MERRY-GO-ROUND: Second-ranked Stanford beat injury-riddled St. Mary's, which tied No. 7 California, which outclassed No. 4 Santa Clara on another wild Bay Area weekend.

THREE FOR THREE: Christine Sinclair scored four more goals — her fifth and sixth — as No. 6 Portland swept three matches in three days, sandwiching a 4-0 rout Saturday over No. 13 Nebraska between tougher wins in the Pilots' Nike Invitational against Cal State Fullerton and Denver. Portland, winners of five straight after opening the season with losses at BYU and Utah, have outscored Nebraska, 11-0, in the past three meetings.

Denver and Fullerton also gave No. 14 Washington fits in Portland. Denver pulled off an upset on Friday; the Titans earned a tie on Sunday.

RISE AND FALL: ACC powers Virginia and Clemson fell in showdowns — No. 22 West Virginia topped the eighth-ranked Cavaliers and No. 16 Tennessee bet the 12th-ranked Tigers — but Duke captured the Gator Invitational (with victories over a strong Central Florida team and No. 24 Florida) and No. 25 Wake Forest won its adidas Invitational (with wins over Loyola Marymount and No. 21 USC) to improve to 7-0.

OTHER WINNERS: No. 5 UCLA captured Hawaii's Outrigger Classic, and No. 11 Notre Dame bounced back from losses last week to Santa Clara and Portland by winning Maryland's Fila Classic. No. 20 Pepperdine and No. 23 Auburn swept inferior foes.

MISSTEPS: No. 17 SMU fell to 6-0 Oklahoma, and No. 19 Michigan was beaten by Georgia — the best 1-4 team in the country. No. 9 Penn State (at Boston College) and No. 18 Connecticut (vs. Villanova) settled for ties. The Nittany Lions followed with a win at Harvard, the Huskies with title at Wisconsin's Rocky Rococo Classic.

How the Top 25 fared:

1. North Carolina (5-0-1)
9/13 vs. Texas A&M at Spring, Texas (4-1), 9/15 vs. Texas at Spring, Texas (3-2)

2. Stanford (4-0-0)
9/13 vs. St. Mary's (3-1)

3. Texas (3-2-0)
9/15 vs. North Carolina at Spring, Texas (2-3)

4. Santa Clara (3-2-0)
9/13 at California (1-2), 9/15 at Cal Poly (1-0)

5. UCLA (4-1-0)
9/13 vs. San Francisco at Hawaii (4-1), 9/15 at Hawaii (2-0)

6. Portland (5-2-0)
9/13 vs. Cal State Fullerton (2-1 OT), 9/14 vs. Nebraska (4-0), 9/15 vs. Denver (2-0)

7. California (4-1-1)
9/13 vs. Santa Clara (2-1), 9/15 at St. Mary's (1-1)

8. Virginia (2-2-1)
9/13 vs. West Virginia (1-2), 9/15 vs. Dartmouth (3-1)

9. Penn State (3-1-1)
9/13 at Boston College (2-2), 9/15 at Harvard (2-1)

10. Texas A&M (3-3-0)
9/13 vs. North Carolina at Spring, Texas (1-4), 9/15 at TCU (3-0)

11. Notre Dame (4-2-0)
9/13 vs. Hartford at Maryland (2-1), 9/15 at Maryland (5-2)

12. Clemson (4-3-0)
9/11 at South Carolina (1-0), 9/13 vs. Butler (4-1), 9/15 vs. Tennessee (0-2)

13. Nebraska (2-2-1)
9/14 at Portland (0-4)

14. Washington (3-2-1)
9/13 vs. Denver at Portland (0-1), vs. Cal State Fullerton at Portland (1-1)

15. Duke (4-2-0)
9/13 vs. Central Florida at Florida (3-0), 9/15 at Florida (2-1 OT)

16. Tennessee (5-1-0)
9/13 vs. Western Carolina at Clemson (3-1), 9/15 at Clemson (2-0)

17. SMU (3-2-0)
9/13 at Oklahoma (0-1)

18. Connecticut (5-1-1)
9/11 vs. Villanova (1-1), 9/13 at Wisconsin (2-1), 9/15 vs. Saint Louis at Wisconsin (2-0)

19. Michigan (5-1-0)
9/13 vs. Massachusetts at UAB (3-0), 9/15 vs. Georgia at UAB (0-1)

20. Pepperdine (5-0-1)
9/13 at UC Irvine (3-1), 9/15 vs. Fresno State (7-1)

21. USC (2-3-1)
9/13 vs. Vanderbilt at Wake Forest (2-0), 9/15 at Wake Forest (1-2)

22. West Virginia (5-1-0)
9/13 at Virginia (2-1), 9/15 vs. James Madison (3-0)

23. Auburn (6-0-0)
9/13 vs. Middle Tennessee State (5-0), 9/15 vs. South Alabama (4-0)

24. Florida (3-3-0)
9/13 vs. Syracuse (2-0), 9/15 vs. Duke (1-2 OT)

25. Wake Forest (7-0-0)
9/10 vs. Davidson (3-1), 9/13 vs. Loyola Marymount (2-0), 9/15 vs. USC (2-1)