UCLA holds No.1 spot in women's Top 25

by TopDrawerSoccer

September 1, 2014

The UCLA defense is keeping the Bruins in the top spot – at least for the time being.

The defending national champions maintained their No. 1 ranking in this week’s TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 25, despite a 0-0 draw against visiting North Carolina on Friday night. The Bruins bounced back to defeat San Diego 2-0 on Sunday night, and have yet to concede a goal in four games so far in 2014.

Florida State and Virginia are breathing down UCLA’s neck at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, both coming away with a pair of wins on the weekend.

The Seminoles extended their early season success, this time away from home. After a 2-1 overtime win on Friday night against Oklahoma State, Florida State topped Oklahoma 1-0 on Sunday.

No. 3 Virginia’s attack whirred to life, scoring nine goals in two games, a 4-0 defeat of Richmond and a 5-0 vanquish of Villanova. Brittany Ratcliffe and Makenzy Doniak paved the way, scoring three and two goals respectively.

No. 4 Texas A&M’s offense is also on a roll early in the season, as the Aggies put up seven goals in its two games. A win against UCF at home was followed by a 4-1 defeat of Illinois State. Kelley Monogue scored three goals and assisted three times in the two-game stretch.

After an 0-2 start to its campaign, Duke spun off a pair of wins, including an impressive 2-0 victory on Friday night, following that up with a 3-1 defeat of UAB as its young offense started to flourish.

It was a tough time for a handful of ranked teams over the weekend. No. 18 Notre Dame lost both its game on home soil, dropping a pair of 2-1 results, first to No. 10 Texas Tech and the second at the hands of USC. No. 9 Florida fell 2-1 at the hands of Oklahoma, before getting back in the win column with a 4-1 victory against Oklahoma State.

A few new teams entered this week’s Top 25. Pepperdine, which topped North Carolina 1-0 on Sunday to extend its record to 4-0, jumps high into the rankings at No. 17, while Boston College and Wisconsin check in at No. 24 and 25.

To see this week’s rankings update, click here.