If you thought you could go back to saying nothing was on after the Olympics wrapped up, I have some bad news: the women's college soccer season is right around the corner. If players like Naomi Girma, Croix Bethune, or Jenna Nighswonger awed you, then when Thursdays and Sundays roll around from August to December you need to be watching NCAA women's soccer.
College soccer is a different beast. There's incredible talent spread across all the Division I conferences, the short season means it's likely there's always an important game happening, and it's a guarantee that some of the players you see will be tearing it up in the NWSL next year. Look at what the rookies this year are doing if you don't believe me. What I'm trying to say is you should be watching women's collegiate soccer with the same passion, dedication, and effort you did when watching your as-a-week-ago favorite Olympic sport.
Jumping right in can be hard, so to help, the rest of this article (and all subsequent College Corner articles) will help try to make women's soccer digestible. If all you do is tune in to your team, excellent, the rest of Division I action will be recapped for you here, with any big goals, big shake-ups, or other important news.
First though, let's start with a recap of what happened over the offseason, some coaching changes, teams to watch, and even some big opening weekend matchups.
BIG NEWS, BIG CHANGES
The dissolution of the PAC-12 sent shock waves across the college sports world, rightfully so. It also might've sent a shiver of fear down the spines of some college coaches, because Stanford and Cal joined the ACC this year. For those unfamiliar, the ACC is the toughest conference in women's soccer. Five ACC teams made the NCAA tournament, six if you want to now count Stanford. Packed with traditional powerhouses like UNC and last year's National Champion Florida St., the ACC was already no joke.
Now, an already tough conference just got harder and, with only six ACC playoff berths available, it's likely to be a bloodbath between the top half of the bracket. As of opening day, seven teams are ranked in the top 25, and five of those teams are ranked in the top ten. The SEC also has seven ranked teams but is confined to outside the top ten.
Speaking of historical powerhouses, as of Monday, August 12, Anson Dorrance retired from coaching UNC's team. It's just three days from their first game against, preseason has started, and there was no warning to those outside of the program. Last year, UNC suffered a rough exit from the national tournament losing a 3-0 lead over BYU. There has since been a mass exodus from the program, compounded by an unstable coaching staff, as reported by Matt Hartmen. Assistant Damon Nehas will serve as the interim head coach while UNC searches for the second head coach in program history.
Of course, collegiate soccer isn't just the ACC. St. Louis University has won the Atlantic 10 Conference six times and will be vying for a seventh. Don't let the domination put you off. SLU has eyes on continuing to improve their NCAA tournament record and traditionally they have a lot of attacking firepower. If you want to see goals, SLU's a good team to watch while still being a program with a high ceiling.
The SEC has seven teams in the preseason coaches' poll ranked in the top 25. If you're a fan of an anyone-can-win conference, then the SEC might just be for you. Programs like Georgia, Texas, and Texas A&M have all been quality the last few years, and Texas in particular made a deep run in the NCAA tournament. It's a conference of underdogs who don't think of themselves as underdogs.
The BIG 10 is another loaded conference made all the more competitive by the dissolution of the PAC-12. UCLA joins the likes of Michigan State, Penn St., and Nebraska. With seven ranked teams, UCLA adds another competitive edge to the conference. Although UCLA has a history of a strong season ending in an upset (thank you, UC Irvine), the Bruins did win the National Championship as recently as 2022. The BIG 10 has a lot of offensive firepower mixed with gritty teams like Rutgers and Michigan State. Like most of women's soccer, anything goes, but in the BIG 10, there's less of a divide between the top and bottom halves of the conference.
BIG GAMES, BIG PLAYERS
* Duke v Ohio State, Thursday at 7:00 pm EST on B1G+
This game is an easy way to see two quality opponents waste no time warming up to the year. It also allows a direct comparison between two conferences that will likely feature heavily at the end of the season. More than that, it's simply fun to watch two teams that aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination but are clearly building towards something. It's the perfect first match: a test against a strong team, early enough where mistakes are guaranteed, and no conference implications.
* Pitt v Georgia, Thursday at 6:30 pm EST, SECN+
This is a ranked matchup between no. 7 Pitt and no. 14 Georgia. Not that rankings mean a whole lot at the start of the season. It's more about how last season went and what the relative strength of the roster is now. This is why watching how Pitt and Georgia respond early will make for entertaining soccer. This match could be all offense or all defense and the outcome will rely on whoever the team most in control of their identity is.
* Wisconsin v BYU Thursday at 9:00 pm EST, ESPN+
In another showdown, BYU made it to the semifinals last year before falling short. Wisconsin didn't have the same tournament success but does play an eye-catching brand of soccer. Both teams are missing their stars from last season, which makes this match an early way to see who might step up. Like most matches this early in the season, anything goes.
There are so many other exciting matches this Thursday and Sunday. If you're partial to a particular conference, you can check out the conference's women's soccer page to see all upcoming matches, their times, and usually what streaming service they're broadcast on. You'll want to quickly pick a conference, pick a team, and you'll be hooked at the end of the first match. And if you aren't, watch the Sunday games and by then you will be. It's a quick season, so start watching now, before it's December and you're missing one of the best sports parties of the year.
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