| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  | Florida State | If there was any doubt, Florida State's defense proved who the best team in the nation is right now. | 1 |
| 2 |  | UCLA | UCLA got a nice 4-0 win over Pepperdine on Sunday. This week they kick off conference play against WSU. | 2 |
| 3 |  | Stanford | The Cardinal defense is clamping down, recording four consecutive shutouts. That trend could continue. | 4 |
| 4 |  | Oklahoma State | Oklahoma State just keeps winning, but a very interesting road trip to West Virginia awaits this weekend. | 7 |
| 5 |  | Duke | Following a loss at Florida State, Duke got a nice win in Coral Gables. Duke heads home to face Maryland next. | 3 |
| 6 |  | Texas A&M | Texas A&M has still not given up a goal since August and that includes win at LSU and Ole Miss last weekend. | 11 |
| 7 |  | Virginia | Virginia kicked off ACC play with a big 4-0 win over NC State. A home tie against UNC is not a horrible result. | 6 |
| 8 |  | Penn State | PSU got off to a nice start in Big Ten play by beating Wisconsin. NW and Illinois could be their toughest weekend. | 8 |
| 9 |  | Wake Forest | Like Duke, Wake Forest hit the road to face Miami and FSU last week. Like Duke, they beat Miami and lost to FSU. | 5 |
| 10 |  | Boston College | Kristen Mewis scored two goals against Clemson and added three more against Harvard. ACC play heats up now. | 9 |
| 11 |  | Virginia Tech | So much will be learned about just how good this Virginia Tech squad is this week when they face UNC and BC. | 12 |
| 12 |  | Maryland | The Terps survived the first weekend of conference play and this team can be a contender with a good weekend. | 15 |
| 13 |  | Notre Dame | The Irish got a great win against Louisville to open up Big East play. They'll stay at home this weekend. | 20 |
| 14 |  | UCF | The Knights have an intriguing opening conference game at Memphis, but they should take care of business. | 13 |
| 15 |  | Louisville | Louisville lost a tough road game at Notre Dame last week. The home schedule is easier and starts this week. | 17 |
| 16 |  | North Carolina | Getting a result at all at Maryland and Virginia is not too bad, but UNC better step up at home to stay in the race. | 10 |
| 17 |  | California | California had a hard fought win against Penn last week. The Pac-12 gauntlet may catch up to this group. | 18 |
| 18 |  | Baylor | Baylor has not had many opportunities to get big wins yet, so they will need to have a good showing in the Big 12. | 19 |
| 19 |  | San Diego State | SDSU finally lost a game, but they played Stanford close and got a decent tie in Santa Clara. | 21 |
| 20 |  | Georgetown | Georgetown rebounded from their 6-0 loss to Stanford by beating Seton Hall 8-0 and Rutgers 1-0. | NR |
| 21 |  | Santa Clara | Santa Clara needs to add a few more W's to their record and they'll get the chance against CSUN and WSU. | 22 |
| 22 |  | Portland | The Pilots had their first true game last week against USC and gave up a couple goals, but came away with a 3-2 win. | 23 |
| 23 |  | Florida | Florida is slipping and they need a solid weekend at home against Tennessee and Georgia. | 14 |
| 24 |  | Marquette | The Golden Eagles dominated Pitt on the road and will stay on the road to face Seton Hall and Rutgers next. | 25 |
| 25 |  | Long Beach State | Overall, LBSU did not take full advantage of their key non-conference games. They wrap up against San Diego. | 16 |
9/17 Women's Soccer Top 25 Rankings
Mon, 09/17/2012
