Stanford atop women’s NSCAA Division I Top 25 poll
By Jimmy LaRoue
With a dominating 6-1 win over Santa Clara to open the season, defending Division I national champions Stanford top this week’s NSCAA Division I women’s top 25 poll.
After trailing by a goal at the half, Stanford scored six goals in a 21 minute span to run away from Santa Clara. Senior captain Mariah Nogueira headed in a corner in the 53rd minute to start the scoring, followed by goals from Rachel Quon, Sydney Payne, Alina Garciamendez and two from junior Natalie Griffen in her first collegiate start. The Cardinal started just four from last season’s College Cup championship match due to graduation and injuries.
Duke, with two wins, including its season-opening win at William & Mary–getting goals from freshman Katie Pecht, junior Laura Weinberg, redshirt junior Kim DeCesare and sophomore Katy Colas–and an 8-0 win over Elon in the Blue Devils’ home opener, is second. DeCesare, Weinberg and Katie Trees had two goals apiece in the home win.
Florida State, who rallied from a two-goal deficit win on the road at Minnesota, is third. The Seminoles second game at Marquette was called due to lightning and will not count. Oklahoma State, who picked up two, 1-0 wins against UMKC and Weber State, is fourth, and UCLA, which had its opener at UConn. cancelled and defeated UMass. 2-1 in Amherst, Mass., round out the top five.
Just three teams in this week’s top 25 have losses–two of those coming from the ACC’s Virginia and North Carolina. UVa., who is without coach Steve Swanson and sophomore Morgan Brien, an all-American last season, to the U.S. Under-20 national team for the World Cup–lost its opener 3-1 to Penn State but rallied to pick up a 5-0 win against Radford. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels, without three players who are with the U-20s and two defenders who succumbed to injuries during the team’s opening match, fell at Portland 1-0. The other team with a loss in the top 25 is Santa Clara.
Here’s the rest of this week’s top 25:
NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division I Women’s National Poll – Week 1
| Rank | School | Prev. | W-L-T |
| 1 | Stanford | 1 | 1-0-0 |
| 2 | Duke | 2 | 2-0-0 |
| 3 | Florida State | 4 | 1-0-0 |
| 4 | Oklahoma State | 5 | 2-0-0 |
| 5 | UCLA | 6 | 1-0-0 |
| 6 | Penn State | 9 | 2-0-0 |
| 7 | Wake Forest | 3 | 1-0-1 |
| 8 | Pepperdine | 10 | 1-0-0 |
| 9 | Central Florida | 12 | 2-0-0 |
| 10 | Boston College | 11 | 1-0-0 |
| 11 | Virginia | 7 | 1-1-0 |
| 12 | Texas A&M | 14 | 0-0-0 |
| 13 | Marquette | 16 | 1-0-0 |
| 14 | North Carolina | 8 | 0-1-0 |
| 15 | Long Beach State | 18 | 1-0-0 |
| 16 | Virginia Tech | 22 | 2-0-0 |
| 17 | Maryland | 13 | 1-0-1 |
| 18 | Portland | NR | 1-0-0 |
| 19 | Boston University | 23 | 2-0-0 |
| 20 | Wisconsin | NR | 2-0-0 |
| 21 | Auburn | 25 | 2-0-0 |
| 22 | Illinois | 19 | 1-0-1 |
| 23 | Rutgers | NR | 2-0-0 |
| 24 | Baylor | RV | 2-0-0 |
| 25 | Santa Clara | 17 | 0-1-0 |
Records reflect games played through Aug. 19, 2012
Also receiving votes: La Salle 93, Tennessee 81, Missouri 79, Louisville 75, Memphis 70, West Virginia 44, California 43, Cal State Northridge 29, Oregon State 29, North Carolina-Wilmington 23, Miami (Fla.) 20, Minnesota 20, Florida 19, Dayton 12, Hofstra 12, San Diego State 11, BYU 11, Georgetown 8, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 6, Texas Tech 5, Connecticut 2, South Carolina 1
