Despite a few shocking upsets in the early rounds of the 2025 NCAA soccer tournament, the ACC has retained its status as the conference to beat, with the powerhouse sending three teams to this season's College Cup semifinals on Friday.
With two tickets to Monday's national championship match on the line, four-time title-winners and No. 3-seed Florida State will take on College Cup debutants TCU in Friday's first semi, with the No. 2 Horned Frogs booking their semifinals spot by ousting fellow SEC standout No. 1 Vanderbilt 2-1 last Saturday.
The nightcap, on the other hand, will be an all-ACC affair, as No. 2 Duke continues their hunt for a first-ever national title against the tournament's overall No. 1 seed, Stanford.
The three-time NCAA champ Cardinal has been unstoppable, outscoring their opponents 21-5 across the tournament's first four rounds to set up a season-first matchup with the Blue Devils.
The 2025 College Cup will take place for the first time at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, home of the NWSL's Kansas City Current.
How to watch the 2025 College Cup semifinals
Friday's 2025 College Cup semifinals will begin with No. 2 TCU vs. No. 3 Florida State at 6 PM ET, with No. 1 Stanford's clash against No. 2 Duke kicking off at 8:45 PM ET.
Both semifinals — plus Monday's 7PM ET championship match — will air live on ESPNU.
The SEC displayed its basketball dominance on Thursday's courts, as the conference won all four of the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge Day 2 matchups to feature at least one Top-25 team.
No. 2 Texas handled No. 11 North Carolina 79-64 while No. 3 South Carolina and No. 13 Ole Miss survived nail-biters against No. 22 Louisville and No. 18 Notre Dame, respectively.
"I thought [our players] got out and made big plays for themselves in the fourth and building the five-point lead," said South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley. "It was a turning point for us, whether we were going to succumb to losing the game or fight to get back in it."
No one had a better night than No. 5 LSU, however, as the Tigers faced their season's first Power Four opponent to a 93-77 result over unranked Duke, erasing a 14-point deficit behind six double-digit LSU scorers — led by 18 points from star guard Flau'jae Johnson.
"We scored 93 tonight, and look how poor we played in the first quarter. We were behind. Scoring the ball is not going to be a problem," said Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey. "Our problem is we have to just continue to get better on the defensive end and take care of the ball."
Across the 16 total 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge games, the SEC took 13 victories, with only unranked Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and SMU earning ACC wins — over Auburn, Florida, and Arkansas, respectively — this week.
How to watch Top-25 NCAA basketball this weekend
This weekend's NCAA docket sees the nonconference schedule cool down, with No. 16 USC hosting No. 21 Washington in the only ranked battle.
The Trojans and Huskies will tip off in LA at 8 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage airing on the Big Ten Network.
Monday's AP Top 25 women's college basketball poll has a new No. 2, as Texas jumped two spots up the ladder after taking down then-No. 2 South Carolina and then-No. 3 UCLA at last week's Players Era Championship in Las Vegas.
With the Longhorns knocking off two Top 3 programs in the shortest time frame in 25 years, the 32-member media panel rewarded Texas with 10 first-place votes on Monday.
Despite their losses, the No. 3 Gamecocks and No. 4 Bruins fell just one spot each, with UCLA bouncing back against then-No. 14 Tennessee on Sunday — a 99-77 victory that sent the Vols tumbling five spots to No. 19 in the week's biggest rankings drop.
Meanwhile, Nos. 5 through 10 held steady this week, as No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Maryland, No. 8 TCU, No. 9 Oklahoma, and No. 10 Iowa State all managed to avoid upsets.
The Big Ten and SEC are now neck-and-neck atop NCAA basketball, with both conferences featuring eight Top 25 teams after a narrow win over No. 25 West Virginia last Wednesday saw No. 23 Ohio State enter the AP Poll for the first time this season.
How to watch Top 25 NCAA basketball this week
The ranked action will continue with a trio of Top 25 matchups on the second day of the annual ACC/SEC Challenge on Thursday.
First at 7 PM ET, No. 11 UNC will visit No. 2 Texas on ESPN2 while No. 3 South Carolina faces No. 22 Louisville on ESPN.
No. 18 Notre Dame will close out the night against No. 13 Ole Miss at 9 PM ET, airing live on ESPN2.
2025/26 AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll: Week 5
1. UConn (7-0, Big East)
2. Texas (8-0, SEC)
3. South Carolina (7-1, SEC)
4. UCLA (8-1, Big Ten)
5. LSU (8-0, SEC)
6. Michigan (6-1, Big Ten)
7. Maryland (9-0, Big Ten)
8. TCU (8-0, Big 12)
9. Oklahoma (7-1, SEC)
10. Iowa State (9-0, Big 12)
11. UNC (8-1, ACC)
12. Iowa (8-0, Big Ten)
13. Ole Miss (7-0, SEC)
14. Baylor (7-1, Big 12)
15. Vanderbilt (8-0, SEC)
16. USC (5-2, Big Ten)
17. Kentucky (8-1, SEC)
18. Notre Dame (5-1, ACC)
19. Tennessee (5-2, SEC)
20. Michigan State (8-0, Big Ten)
21. Washington (8-0, Big Ten)
22. Louisville (7-2, ACC)
23. Ohio State (6-1, Big Ten)
24. Oklahoma State (8-1, Big 12)
25. West Virginia (6-2, Big 12)
No. 4 Texas blew past two top-ranked opponents last week, setting the tone for the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season with back-to-back wins over No. 3 UCLA and No. 2 South Carolina to earn the Players Era Championship trophy on Thanksgiving Day.
Fifth-year senior Rori Harmon was named tournament MVP, putting up a game-leading 26 points and breaking the Longhorns' career assists record in Wednesday's 76-65 defeat of UCLA before hitting the game-winner to lift Texas over the Gamecocks 66-64 in Thursday's title game.
"I just read the vibe and flow of the game," Harmon said afterward. "[Texas head coach Vic Schaefer] called the play at the end of the game, and I've been in this moment before, so it felt good coming out of my hands."
Texas's win added fuel to the burgeoning SEC rivalry, with the teams squaring off five times in the last year — and South Carolina riding a narrow 3-2 advantage.
"I'm not upset at all," Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said postgame. "This is going to help us because there are a lot of things to unpack in it."
"If you can give [Texas] a run for their money in that way, I mean, you're on to something," she continued. "I like our resiliency. We've just got to clean up some things at the end of the game."
How to watch Texas, South Carolina this week
Both Texas and South Carolina have another ranked matchup on this week's NCAA docket, with the No. 4 Longhorns taking on the No. 12 UNC Tar Heels while the No. 2 Gamecocks face the No. 23 Louisville Cardinals.
Both games tip off at 7 PM ET on Thursday, with Texas vs. UNC airing live on ESPN2 while South Carolina vs. Louisville airs on ESPN.
The road to the College Cup begins this weekend, as the 2025 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament kicks off with a stacked first-round field on Friday.
The strength of the ACC again leads the charge with three of the 64-team bracket's four top seeds hailing from the conference.
Snagging the overall No. 1 seed is Stanford, with the Cardinal outlasting fellow NCAA top-seed Notre Dame in a penalty shootout to claim their first-ever ACC tournament title last weekend.
Joining the Cardinal and Fighting Irish in the remaining No. 1 spots are the ACC's Virginia Cavaliers and the SEC-leading Vanderbilt Commodores.
Meanwhile, the 2025 tournament's No. 2 seeds — Michigan State, TCU, Duke, and Georgetown — are gearing up to play spoiler, with other underdogs also lurking throughout the bracket.
Already eyeing future upsets are four-time national champions and No. 3-seed Florida State, No. 4-seed and Big Ten champion Washington, and undefeated mid-major dark horse Memphis, who enters the 2025 field as a No. 7 seed.
The ACC's on-pitch dominance also sees defending champion North Carolina in an unfamiliar position, entering the 2025 NCAA tournament unseeded after the 22-time title-winners finished seventh in the conference behind a 12-6 overall and 6-4 ACC season record.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA soccer tournament
The 2025 NCAA women's soccer tournament kicks off with 32 first-round matches across Friday and Saturday, all on ESPN+.
The action begins with unseeded Ohio State taking on No. 8-seed Georgia at 3 PM ET, live on ESPN+.
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 volleyball season is heating up, with a pair of Top 10 matchups headlining the first annual ACC-SEC "Showdown at the Net" event on Wednesday.
Recent conference realignment has seen the SEC and ACC emerge as volleyball strongholds alongside the Big Ten, with the two Power Four rivals laying claim to seven of the current Top 10 teams.
Putting their reputations to the test, the conferences launched the two-day "Showdown at the Net" series this season, with 14 SEC vs. ACC games taking place at campuses nationwide while the four top contenders face off in the event's two-game spotlight showcase in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Wednesday doubleheader will first pair the SEC's No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats against the ACC's No. 7 Pitt Panthers before their respective conference standouts take the court as the No. 2 Texas Longhorns face the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals.
The battle between the Longhorns and Cardinals — a rematch of the 2022 national championship game — will be particularly tense, as both squads enter the match without a single loss on the young 2025 season.
How to watch "Showdown at the Net" NCAA volleyball tournament
No. 3 Kentucky and No. 7 Pitt will kick off Wednesday's top-tier college volleyball clashes at 6:30 PM ET before No. 2 Texas and No. 4 Louisville square off at 9 PM ET.
Both games will air live on ESPN.
The UNC Tar Heels are having a rough start to the 2025 NCAA soccer season, logging two upset losses in the first two weeks of competition to plummet from their No. 1 spot in the preseason rankings.
North Carolina stumbled right out of the gate, becoming the first reigning national champs to drop their season opener in 23 years with their 2-0 fall to Tennessee, before the Tar Heels added a second 2-0 loss to Georgia last Thursday.
As a result, a precipitous poll drop have the once top-ranked Tar Heels now sitting at No. 22 in the nation, with Stanford rising behind four straight wins to take the UNC-vacated No. 1 spot.
Meanwhile, North Carolina's SEC conquerers earned big boosts: Georgia made their season rankings debut at No. 13 this week, and a four-match opening winning streak saw Tennessee skyrocket to No. 2.
Tennessee's early-season success also includes a second massive win, as the preseason-unranked Vols defeated 2022 champion and then-No. 4 UCLA 1-0 last Wednesday to prove that their shocking opening upset was far from a fluke.
Redshirt junior forward Shae O'Rourke is leading Tennessee's charge, netting five goals across their four games — including scoring all three against the two recent NCAA champs.
As for UNC, the Tar Heels have time to right the ship under newly permanent head coach Damon Nahas, with the team looking to log some wins over lopsided opponents before their next ranked matchup against fellow ACC foe No. 24 Virginia Tech on September 11th.
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)
For the first time in program history, Texas A&M is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA softball tournament, with the Aggies staving off four-time reigning champion Oklahoma for the honor in Sunday's 2025 bracket drop.
After adverse weather canceled their conference title game on Saturday, the Aggies and No. 2-seed Sooners became 2025 SEC tournament co-champions, leaving the NCAA selection committee to lean heavily on each team's strength of schedule in making their top-seed decision.
"What set apart Texas A&M is they have 19 Top 25 wins, which is number one in the country," said NCAA softball committee chair Kurt McGuffin on Sunday's ESPN2 broadcast, noting the Aggies' tough nonconference schedule.
Taking on a lighter nonconference slate than usual due to massive roster turnover following the 2023/24 season, Oklahoma relied heavily on their record in a stacked SEC, finishing one half-game ahead of A&M in regular-season play.
While the Sooners look to extend their championship streak, the Aggies will be hunting their third national title and first since 1987.
Standing in their way in the 64-team bracket are a record number of familiar foes, as the SEC boasts 14 teams in the 2025 NCAA competition — the most from any single conference in tournament history.
Even more, nine of the bracket's 16 seeded teams hail from the SEC, and a full seven of the Top 8.
Conference champs, at-large teams score NCAA bracket spots
SEC squads aren't the only teams looking to topple Texas A&M and Oklahoma, however, as conference champions and other elite squads learned their tournament fates on Selection Sunday.
No. 5 Florida State is the highest seeded non-SEC team, despite falling 2-1 to No. 11-seed Clemson in Saturday's ACC title game. Along with No. 14-seed Duke, the ACC will see nine teams in the 2025 tournament.
Behind 2024 National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady — the nation's top pitcher — Texas Tech leads a five-team contingent from the Big 12 after securing both their conference tournament trophy and the national No. 12-seed this weekend.
In the weekend's most upset-filled conference tournament, unseeded Michigan outlasted both No. 9-seed UCLA and No. 16-seed Oregon to score a second straight Big Ten tournament title on Saturday, becoming one of eight teams repping the conference in Sunday's bracket.
Notably, the Bruins — the winningest program in NCAA softball history with 12 titles — have not entered the tournament lower than a No. 6 seed since 2016.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA softball tournament
The road to the 2025 Women's College World Series begins with Regionals, in which each of the 16 seeded teams will host a four-team double-elimination mini-tournament this weekend.
With a minimum of 96 games — and a possibility of 112 — Regional play begins at 12 PM ET on Friday, with the 64-team field narrowing to 16 by Sunday night.
All games will air live across ESPN's networks.