The 2025 NCAA soccer postseason has arrived, with this week's conference tournaments setting the scene for November 10th's Selection Monday — and the 64-team Division I College Cup.
While 30 teams will earn automatic bids to the national tournament by winning their conference titles, all NCAA squads are looking to impress this week with 34 additional bracket spots awarded by the selection committee on Monday.
Stanford entered this week at No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches rankings, with the ACC regular-season title-holders also earning a bye into Thursday's conference tournament semifinals.
"We've got to keep getting better," Cardinal head coach Paul Ratcliffe said. "If we want to win the national championship, you gotta learn from each game and continue to push forward and improve."
After sending four teams to the 2024 College Cup, the ACC remains on top of the women's college soccer landscape with four of the current Top-7 teams hailing from the conference — though other contenders loom.
The No. 3 Memphis Tigers remain the year's surprise success story as one of the sport's two unbeaten teams, with the mid-major squad now vying for their fifth American Conference championship this weekend.
Elsewhere, the No. 13 Washington Huskies and No. 9 Michigan State Spartans enter Thursday's Big Ten tournament semifinals as the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, while upsets already ousted the top seeds from both the SEC and Big 12 tournaments: No. 4 Arkansas and No. 5 TCU.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA soccer conference tournaments
The majority of the 30 NCAA soccer conference tournaments will kick off their semifinals on Wednesday and Thursday, with live coverage of most matches across the Big Ten Network and ESPN platforms.
The 2025 NCAA soccer season kicks off with a full slate on Thursday, as longstanding powerhouses look to repeat last year's successes amid a continually shifting landscape.
Following a strong 2024 showing, the ACC is once again poised to house college soccer's upper echelon, with all eight of their preseason ranked teams cracking the Top 15 in the United Soccer Coaches poll.
Even more, the conference boasts all of Division I's top four programs, with No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Florida State, and No. 4 Duke trailing reigning national champions UNC, who enter the 2025 season as the NCAA's No. 1 team behind senior scoring leader and 2024 MAC Hermann winner Kate Faasse.
While the ACC leads the charge, the rest of the Power Four will attempt to make their own waves with a roster of their own ranked teams.
Matching the ACC with eight preseason nods, the Big Ten is again ruled by Southern California's No. 5 USC and No. 8 UCLA for the second straight season.
As for the five SEC and three Big 12 teams on the list, only two cracked the poll's Top 15, with No. 6 Arkansas leading the SEC charge while No. 9 TCU is the Big 12's best prospect.
Perennial contender Santa Clara scored the only non-Power Four spot in the ranks, with the West Coast Conference titan siding in at No. 16.
How to watch Thursday's ranked NCAA soccer matches
The NCAA is wasting no time in putting top-tier soccer matches on the pitch, with Thursday's 2025 season opener set to feature two ranked matchups.
No. 11 Penn State will visit No. 4 Duke, with the Blue Devils hunting their first win over the Nittany Lions in 26 years. The 7 PM ET match will air live on ACCNX.
Elsewhere, No. 6 Arkansas will host No. 13 Iowa in the pair's first-ever meeting, as the Hawkeyes hope to hand the Razorbacks just their second home loss since 2021. The clash will kick off at 7:30 PM ET on SECN+.
The 2025 NCAA soccer preseason rankings
1. North Carolina (ACC)
2. Notre Dame (ACC)
3. Florida State (ACC)
4. Duke (ACC)
5. USC (Big Ten)
6. Arkansas (SEC)
7. Stanford (ACC)
8. UCLA (Big Ten)
9. TCU (Big 12)
10. Wake Forest (ACC)
11. Penn State (Big Ten)
12. Michigan State (Big Ten)
13. Iowa (Big Ten)
14. Virginia Tech (ACC)
15. Virginia (ACC)
16. Santa Clara (WCC)
17. Vanderbilt (SEC)
18. Ohio State (Big Ten)
19. Texas (SEC)
20. Mississippi State (SEC)
21. South Carolina (SEC)
22. Oklahoma State (Big 12)
23. Wisconsin (Big Ten)
24. Minnesota (Big Ten)
25. Texas Tech (Big 12)