Women's Division I Top 25: Oct. 13

by ESNN

October 12, 2014

No questioning the top team in this week's TopDrawerSoccer.com DI women's top 25 poll. No. 1 UCLA faced then-No. 2 Stanford last week in the marquee matchup of the women's college season so far, and the Bruins got a pair of late goals to run away from the Cardinal in a 2-1 victory in L.A.

That win tightened UCLA's grasp on the No. 1 ranking it's held all year, and it opened a small window for Florida State and Virginia, which moved ahead of Stanford in this week's poll. That leaves last year's title game contestants as 1-2 this week, an interesting wrinkle to monitor as the season progresses.

Elsewhere in the top 10, Virginia Tech's 2-1 loss to Florida State - the Hokies' third loss in their last five - allowed Pepperdine and surprise Big 12 package Kansas to leapfrog to No. 8 and No. 9, respectively. Penn State's loss to Rutgers also shook up the top 10. Rutgers climbed five spots in the rankings on the back of its win, while Penn State fell to No. 11. Further down the poll, West Virginia moved up thanks to a quality 4-2 win against fellow top 20 Texas Tech.

In advance of its big matchup against UCLA on Monday, California's recent surge allowed the Golden Bears to squeeze up the poll to No. 20. Meanwhile, there are two debutants to the poll this week in Michigan and Washington. Slides from South Carolina and USC opened the door for both, and Michigan's climb to No. 23 was helped by a four-game winning streak and a recent 3-0 blowout victory over Indiana. Washington, meanwhile, has won three straight and swept the state of Arizona at home over the weekend.

Check out the full TDS Top 25.