2025 Atlantic Coast Conference women's soccer season

The 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference women's soccer season was the 36th season of women's varsity soccer in the conference. The season began in August. Conference play began in September and concluded in October. The 2025 ACC women's soccer tournament was held from November 2 through November 9 at campus sites and at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.

The Stanford Cardinal finished as regular season champions with a record of 9–0–1. The Cardinal used their top seed to win the ACC tournament in a penalty shoot-out over regular season runner-up Notre Dame. The ACC had nine teams selected for the NCAA tournament, which was tied for the most of any conference. Three ACC teams reached the College Cup, with Florida State prevailing to win the national title. This marked the third straight year an ACC team won the national title.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Team Stadium Capacity Boston College Eagles Newton Soccer Complex 1,800 California Golden Bears Edwards Stadium 22,000 Clemson Tigers Riggs Field 6,500 Duke Blue Devils Koskinen Stadium 7,000 Florida State Seminoles Seminole Soccer Complex 2,000 Louisville Cardinals Lynn Stadium 5,300 Miami Hurricanes Cobb Stadium 500 NC State Dail Soccer Field 3,000

Team Stadium Capacity North Carolina Tar Heels Dorrance Field 4,200 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Alumni Stadium 2,500 Pittsburgh Panthers Ambrose Urbanic Field 735 SMU Mustangs Washburne Stadium 2,577 Stanford Cardinal Cagan Stadium 2,000 Syracuse Orange SU Soccer Stadium 1,500 Virginia Cavaliers Klöckner Stadium 7,100 Virginia Tech Hokies Thompson Field 2,500 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Spry Stadium 3,000

1. Georgia Tech does not sponsor women's soccer

Coaches

Head coaching changes

Two ACC teams entered the season with four new coaches:

Duke head coach Robbie Church retired after twenty-four season as head coach of the program. Kieran Hall was hired as his replacement in January 2025. NC State head coach Tim Santoro was fired after twelve seasons in charge of the program on November 8, 2024. Garry Higgins was hired from East Carolina to be the new head coach on December 12, 2024. Damon Nahas was made the permanent head coach at North Carolina after serving in an interim role during the 2024 season. Randy Waldrum was elevated to Technical Director of the Pittsburgh Panthers program on May 22, 2025. Ben Waldrum was promoted from associate head coach to head coach on the same day.

Head coaching records

Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school ACC record Boston College Chris Watkins 2 91–38–18 12–5–2 4–4–2 California Neil McGuire 19 235–180–49 191–111–43 5–4–1 Clemson Eddie Radwanski 15 288–154–51 149–89–37 63–64–14 Duke Kieran Hall 1 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 Florida State Brian Pensky 4 239–116–53 54–5–8 24–4–2 Louisville Karen Ferguson-Dayes 24 211–198–51 211–198–51 38–55–16 Miami Ken Masuhr 2 5–8–4 5–8–4 1–6–3 North Carolina Damon Nahas 1 22–5–0 22–5–0 7–3–0 NC State Gary Higgins 1 110–48–28 0–0–0 0–0–0 Notre Dame Nate Norman 8 140–77–29 82–42–16 38–21–6 Pittsburgh Ben Waldrum 1 0–0–0 0–0–0 0–0–0 SMU Nicole Nelson 4 27–19–8 27–19–8 2–6–2 Stanford Paul Ratcliffe 23 447–106–48 392–62–41 5–4–1 Syracuse Nicky Adams 7 105–73–31 24–61–10 3–48–6 Virginia Steve Swanson 25 488–176–74 384–113–63 152–56–29 Virginia Tech Charles Adair 15 169–89–30 169–89–30 65–59–18 Wake Forest Tony da Luz 28 364–241–64 319–200–62 110–120–29

Notes Records shown are prior to the 2025 season Years at school includes the 2025 season

Pre-season

Hermann Trophy Watchlist

The Hermann Trophy preseason watchlist was released on August 14, 2025. Nine ACC players were selected the preseason watchlist, including the winner of the 2024 award, Kate Faasse.

Player Class Position School MF Stanford MF North Carolina MF Florida State FW Notre Dame FW North Carolina DF Florida State DF Notre Dame DF Duke FW Duke

Pre-season poll

The pre-season poll and pre-season all conference teams were voted on by the league's 17 head coaches. The results of the poll were released on August 7, prior to the season starting.

Pre-season Coaches Poll

1 North Carolina 246 (10) 2 Notre Dame 229 (2) 3 Florida State 225 (4) 4 Duke 208 5 Stanford 201 6 Wake Forest 172 7 Virginia 169 (1) 8 Virginia Tech 162 9 Clemson 132 10 California 124 11 Pittsburgh 111 12 SMU 83 13 Boston College 81 14 Louisville 67 15 Miami 44 16 NC State 40 17 Syracuse 18

Source:

Pre-season All-ACC Team Position Player Class School Goalkeeper Teagan Wy Senior California Defender Heather Gilchrist Florida State Leah Klenke Notre Dame Cameron Roller Junior Duke Midfielder Tessa Dellarose Senior North Carolina Mia Oliaro Junior Duke Linda Ullmark Sophomore North Carolina Forward Maggie Cagle Senior Virginia Jordynn Dudley Junior Florida State Izzy Engle Sophomore Notre Dame Kate Faasse Senior North Carolina Andrea Kitahata Senior Stanford Mia Minestrella Junior Duke Olivia Thomas North Carolina

Source:

Regular season

Conference Matrix

The table below shows head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team plays ten matches. Each team does not play every other team.   Boston CollegeCaliforniaClemsonDukeFlorida StateLouisvilleMiamiNorth CarolinaNC StateNotre DamePittsburghSMUStanfordSyracuseVirginiaVirginia TechWake Forestvs. Boston College – 0–0 1–0 × × 1–0 × 3–1 1–0 × 2–1 × 2–0 0–1 2–0 × 0–0vs. California 0–0 – 2–2 × 2–2 × 0–2 × × × 1–2 2–1 8–2 0–1 2–2 0–1 ×vs. Clemson 0–1 2–2 – 3–2 × 1–0 × × × 5–1 × 2–3 2–2 1–2 3–0 × 0–1vs. Duke × × 2–3 – × × 0–1 2–3 1–3 3–2 0–5 × × 0–2 3–1 2–3 3–2vs. Florida State × 2–2 × × – 0–2 0–3 0–1 1–1 4–2 × × 2–1 0–4 2–3 × 1–4vs. Louisville 0–1 × 0–1 × 2–0 – 0–2 × 0–3 3–1 × 0–3 × × 1–1 0–1 1–1vs. Miami × 2–0 × 1–0 3–0 2–0 – 1–2 × × × 0–0 3–2 1–0 × 0–0 3–1vs. North Carolina 1–3 × × 3–2 1–0 × 2–1 – 0–1 4–3 1–3 0–3 × 2–4 × 1–2 ×vs. NC State 0–1 × × 3–1 1–1 3–0 × 1–0 – 2–1 0–1 0–1 × × × 4–4 1–2vs. Notre Dame × × 1–5 2–3 2–4 1–3 × 3–4 1–2 – 1–0 0–3 × × × 0–5 1–1vs. Pittsburgh 1–2 2–1 × 5–0 × × × 3–1 1–0 0–1 – 4–0 6–0 × 2–0 × 2–1vs. SMU × 1–2 3–2 × × 3–0 0–0 3–0 1–0 3–0 0–4 – 5–1 1–1 × × ×vs. Stanford 0–2 2–8 2–2 × 1–2 × 2–3 × × × 0–6 1–5 – 0–4 1–2 0–5 ×vs. Syracuse 1–0 1–0 2–1 2–0 4–0 × 0–1 4–2 × × × 1–1 4–0 – 3–0 × ×vs. Virginia 0–2 2–2 0–3 1–3 3–2 1–1 × × × × 0–2 × 2–1 0–3 – 1–2 ×vs. Virginia Tech × 1–0 × 3–2 1–0 0–0 2–1 4–4 5–0 × × 5–0 × 2–1 – 2–1vs. Wake Forest 0–0 × 1–0 2–3 4–1 1–1 1–3 × 2–1 1–1 1–2 × × × × 1–2 –Total 1–7–2 4–2–4 4–4–2 7–3–0 6–2–2 6–2–2 1–7–2 6–4–0 4–4–2 8–1–1 2–8–0 2–6–2 9–0–1 1–8–1 6–2–2 0–8–2 4–3–3 × – Matchup not played in 2025

Rankings

+ Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week

  Pre Wk 1 Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Wk 10 Wk 11 Wk 12 Wk 13 Wk 14 Wk 15 Final Boston College USC Not released TDS California USC RV RV Not released TDS 21 17 Clemson USC RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 24 Not released RV TDS Duke USC 4 1 (3) 3 (1) 3 2 3 9 14 14т 9 7 10 11 Not released 3 (1) TDS 5 3 3 2 4 5 7 14 14 10 11 10 9 10 10 6 4 Florida State USC 3 3 (2) 6т 7 7 7 6 6 5 7 11 6 6 Not released 1 (7) TDS 4 2 2 6 2 2 6 6 5 5 9 5 6 7 7 5 1 Louisville USC RV RV RV 23 RV RV 20т 21 20 Not released 24 TDS 20 22 14 10 11 15 16 14 15 20 19 22 22 Miami USC Not released TDS NC State USC Not released TDS North Carolina USC 1 (8) 12 22 23 19 18 22 19 19 23 23 RV Not released 13т TDS 1 6 15 19 14 11 11 19 17 23 18 25 16 16 Notre Dame USC 2 7т 6т 5 6 6 2 2 2 1 (8) 1 (8) 1 (8) 2 Not released 11 TDS 3 8 6 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 17 17 Pittsburgh USC Not released TDS SMU USC Not released TDS Stanford USC 7 2 (3) 1 (3) 1 (6) 3 2 (1) 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 (8) Not released 2 TDS 2 1 1 1 6 7 5 5 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 Syracuse USC Not released TDS Virginia USC 15 17 13т 8 5 1 (7) 1 (8) 1 (8) 1 (8) 3 3 7 7 Not released 8 TDS 24 21 13 7 3 2 2 2 3 6 8 7 8 8 10 10 Virginia Tech USC 14 15 24 20 RV Not released TDS 10 9 24 Wake Forest USC 10 10 19 17 18 16 19 12 13 17т RV RV RV Not released RV TDS 18 17 20 24 25 20 22 12 20 18

Players of the Week

Week Date Awarded Offensive Player of the week Defensive Player of the week Reference 1 August 19 Mia Minestrella – Duke Elise Evans – Stanford Valentina Amaral – Wake Forest 2 August 26 Mackenzie Geigle – Louisville Victoria Safradin – Virginia 3 September 2 Devin Lynch – Duke Cameron Roller – Duke Laney Matriano – Notre Dame 4 September 9 Amelia Swinarski – Louisville Teagan Wy – California Annabelle Chukwu – Notre Dame 5 September 16 Ella Carter – Virginia Janet Okeke – Florida State 6 September 23 Annabelle Chukwu – Notre Dame Olivia Pratapas – NC State 7 September 30 Izzy Engle – Notre Dame Teagan Wy – California Kylie Maxwell – Wake Forest 8 October 7 Jade Bordeleau – NC State Olivia Pratapas – NC State Olivia Thomas – North Carolina 9 October 14 Jasmine Aikey – Stanford Teagan Wy – California 10 October 21 Andrea Kitahata – Stanford Teagan Wy – California 11 October 28 Jordynn Dudley – Florida State Erynn Floyd – Louisville Izzy Engle – Notre Dame 12 October 31 Jasmine Aikey – Stanford Abby Reisz – Pittsburgh

Postseason

ACC Tournament

NCAA tournament

Seed School Region 1st Round 2nd Round Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship 1 Stanford Stanford W 5–1 vs. – (Stanford) W 7–3 vs. (8) – (Stanford) W 6–0 vs. (5) – (Stanford) W 5–1 vs. (2) Michigan State – (Stanford) W 1–0 vs. (2) Duke – (Kansas City) L 0–1 vs. (3) Florida State – (Kansas City) 1 Notre Dame Notre Dame W 4–0 vs. – (Notre Dame) L 0–1 (2OT) vs. – (Notre Dame) 1 Virginia Virginia W 5–0 vs. – (Charlottesville) W 2–0 vs. (8) – (Charlottesville) T 1–1 (4–5 PKs) vs. (4) – (Charlottesville) 2 Duke Virginia W 3–0 vs. – (Durham) W 1–0 vs. (7) – (Durham) W 2–0 vs. (3) – (Durham) W 3–0 vs. (4) Washington – (Durham) L 0–1 vs. (1) Stanford – (Kansas City) 3 Florida State Notre Dame W 4–0 vs. – (Tallahassee) W 1–0 vs. – (Washington, D.C.) W 3–1 @ (2) – (Washington, D.C.) W 4–1 vs. Ohio State – (Tallahassee) W 1–0 vs. (2) TCU – (Kansas City) W 1–0 vs. (1) Stanford – (Kansas City) 6 Louisivlle Virginia T 1–1 (5–4 PKs) vs. – (Louisville) L 1–3 vs. (3) – (Durham) 7 Wake Forest Stanford W 2–1 vs. – (Winston-Salem) L 0–1 @ (2) – (East Lansing) 8 Clemson Vanderbilt W 2–1 vs. – (Clemson) L 2–3 (2OT) @ (1) – (Nashville) — North Carolina Vanderbilt W 3–1 @ (3) – (Knoxville) T 1–1 (4–3 PKs) vs. (6) – (Fort Worth) T 1–1 (3–4 PKs)@ (2) – (Fort Worth) W–L (%): Total:

Awards and honors

Conference end of season awards were released on November 5, 2025, prior to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. Izzy Engle was named Offensive Player of the Year, Lia Godfrey won Midfielder of the Year, Elise Evans won Defensive Player of the Year, Caroline Birkel won Goalkeeper of the Year, and Paul Ratcliffe was named Coach of the Year. A full list of award winners and All-ACC Teams is shown below.

ACC Awards

2025 ACC Women's Soccer Individual Awards Award Recipient(s) Coach of the Year Paul Ratcliffe – Stanford Offensive Player of the Year Izzy Engle – Notre Dame Midfielder of the Year Lia Godfrey – Virginia Defensive Player of the Year Elise Evans – Stanford Goalkeeper of the Year Caroline Birkel – Stanford Freshman of the Year Kylie Maxwell – Wake Forest

2025 ACC Women's Soccer All-Conference Teams First Team Second Team Third Team All-Freshman TeamMia Minestrella – Duke Jordynn Dudley – Florida State Olivia Thomas – North Carolina Annabelle Chukwu – Notre Dame Izzy Engle – Notre Dame Leah Klenke – Notre Dame Jasmine Aikey – Stanford Caroline Birkel – Stanford Elise Evans – Stanford Andrea Kitahata – Stanford Lia Godfrey – VirginiaKat Rader – Duke Wrianna Hudson – Florida State Taylor Suarez – Florida State Karsyn Cherry – Louisville Amelia Swinarski – Louisville Jade Bordeleau – NC State Shae Harvey – Stanford Charlotte Kohler – Stanford Maggie Cagle – Virginia Laney Rouse – Virginia Victoria Safradin – VirginiaJuJu Harris – Clemson Carina Lageyre – Duke Cameron Roller – Duke Heather Gilchrist – Florida State Mimi Van Zanten – Florida State