Football gets the noise this week. The more interesting board is the other one.
Ask the RallyFuel room who wins the women’s soccer national championship and 63 percent of the answers come back as two names. Stanford has 38 percent. Duke has 25. On Sunday they play each other.
Voting is open on every match. Twenty points each, free to play, every vote counting toward your school’s leaderboard.
The one that matters
Duke and Stanford · Sunday, September 13
The top two on the title board, in September, before conference play has properly started. Whoever loses does not fall out of the race, but the board will move, and it stays open until December 9, so a vote cast now can be changed later.
Worth noting what the room did not do. In the football title market, 33 percent of votes went to dark horse, meaning a third of the room thinks the champion is not on the list. In women’s soccer, dark horse has zero. Not one person. Every vote sits on a named team, and 63 percent of them sit on these two.
That is either conviction or a blind spot, and Sunday is the first real test of it.
Thursday and Friday
Ohio State and Penn State · Thursday — Ohio State is the third most backed team on the board at 13 percent, tied with Michigan State and Wake Forest, and this is the first of two matches they play this week.
Georgia and Vanderbilt · Thursday — Vanderbilt sits on the title board with zero percent, which makes them the most conspicuous name nobody has voted for.
South Carolina and Florida · Thursday — An SEC opener between two programmes with real history in the tournament.
North Carolina and California · Thursday — UNC has more national titles than anyone in the sport and zero percent of this year’s vote.
Auburn and Alabama · Friday — The Iron Bowl, played on grass. Alabama is on the title board at zero.
Florida State and NC State · Friday — Two ACC sides in a conference that supplies four of the eleven names on the title board.
Saturday
Wake Forest and Virginia — Wake Forest is one of the three teams tied at 13 percent. This is the match that tells you whether that is deserved.
Louisville and Pittsburgh — ACC, and both still looking for a signature result.
Saint Louis and Kansas — The best of the non conference Saturday matches.
Sunday, beyond Duke and Stanford
| Match | Why |
| Indiana and Ohio State | Ohio State’s second match of the week, and the harder one |
| West Virginia and UConn | West Virginia is the only Big 12 name on the title board |
| Penn State and Minnesota | Penn State’s second in four days |
| Illinois and Michigan | Big Ten opener |
| Wisconsin and Northwestern | Wisconsin plays twice this week as well |
| Iowa and Nebraska | A rivalry that travels across every sport |
| USC and Purdue | USC on the road in the Big Ten |
| Washington and Rutgers | Two of the longest trips in the conference |
| Boston College and Syracuse | ACC opener |
| North Carolina and NJIT | UNC’s second of the week |
| Creighton and Gonzaga | Two of the better mid major sides in the country |
| Pepperdine and Arizona | The best of the west coast slate |
The title board
Stanford 38% · Duke 25% · Michigan State 13% · Wake Forest 13% · Ohio State 13% · Vanderbilt 0% · Alabama 0% · West Virginia 0% · North Carolina 0% · Tennessee 0% · Dark horse 0%
Five teams hold every vote. Six named programmes have none at all, including North Carolina, which has won the tournament more times than the rest of the country combined. Voting closes December 9 and resolves after the College Cup final.
Rankings follow the United Soccer Coaches Top 25.
Cast your votes
Every match above is live on the women’s soccer board. Twenty points per vote, free to play, closing at kickoff.
Commenting earns points too, and most of these matches have no comments at all, which makes the Rally Pit the cheapest climb on the fan leaderboard this week.
New here? Start with what an NIL platform is, then how RallyFuel works. Football fans, the Week 2 board is open as well.
