TDS Women's Division I Top 25: Oct. 26

by TopDrawerSoccer

October 26, 2015

There's a familiar face at the top of this week's TopDrawerSoccer Women's Top 25 rankings.

It required a favorable call, but Virginia finally found a way past Florida State, defeating the Seminoles 1-0 at home on a penalty kick from Alexis Shaffer, to take over the top spot.

The Cavaliers benefitted from a fortunante call, however. In the 30th minute, a Virginia shot fired from the left hand side of the box hit the far post. The rebound fell kindly to Makenzy Doniak, who only had a couple of defenders on the line to beat. Her shot was saved by FSU defender Kirsten Crowley, who was adjudged to have handled it by Mohammad Samadpour. Television replays showed that it hit Crowley on the hip, but the damage was done, as Crowley was sent off and Shaffer converted the penalty.

Now riding a six game winning streak, Virginia sits at No. 1 in the Top 25, with two ACC games left against NC State and Pittsburgh.

Speaking of consecutive wins, Stanford moved into the No. 3 spot after extending its Pac-12 and overall winning streak to eight, traveling to the Pacific Northwest and defeating Washington State 2-1 in overtime, and cruising past Washington 3-0 on Sunday evening. The young Cardinal have the inside track on a Pac-12 title with three home games against USC, UCLA and California still to come.

After losing three times in a row for just the second time in program history, North Carolina responded against a pair of tough ACC opponents. The Tar Heels fashioned a 2-1, come-from-behind victory over Notre Dame on Thursday, before grinding out a 1-0 home win over Clemson. With the wins, UNC moved back into the top 10 at No. 8.

Click here to see this week's full Top 25 update.

Related Topics: Atlantic Coast, Pacific 12