2018 NCAA Division I women's soccer season


The 2018 NCAA Division I women's soccer season will be the 37th season of NCAA women's college soccer. The Stanford Cardinal are defending national champions.

Preseason

Coaching changes

Conference realignment

Six schools joined new conferences this season. Four moved their entire athletic programs to new conferences, two NCAA Division II members that sponsor women's soccer announced during the 2016–17 offseason that they would upgrade their athletic programs to Division I effective in 2018, and one began play in its current all-sports league. One conference announced that it would no longer use divisions for its women's soccer seasonal competition.
ProgramOld ConferenceNew ConferenceReference
California BaptistNCAA Division IIWAC
Hampton-Big South
LibertyBig SouthASUN
North AlabamaNCAA Division IIASUN
North DakotaBig SkySummit
USC UpsateASUNBig South

The Mid-American Conference previously divided its teams into an East and West Division. However, in 2018 the league discontinued this and all teams were considered to be in one division.

Season Overview

Polls

Pre-season polls

Major upsets

DateWinnerScoreLoser
August 17, 2018Albany1–0No. 21 Arizona
August 18, 2018Illinois2–1No. 3 Duke
August 26, 2018No. 23 Oklahoma State1–0No. 5 Florida
August 26, 2018Illinois2–1No. 14 Oklahoma State
September 2, 2018Wake Forest1–0No. 5 Penn State
September 16, 2018Minnesota2–0No. 12 Northwestern
September 20, 2018Arkansas3–2No. 2 Texas A&M
September 20, 2018Clemson1–0 No. 4 Virginia
September 20, 2018Mississippi State2–1No. 13 South Carolina
September 23, 2018Ole Miss3–2No. 9 Auburn
September 23, 2018Boston College2–1No. 7 Florida State
September 27, 2018Virginia Tech1–0No. 6 Virginia
September 27, 2018Wake Forest2–1No. 11 Boston College
September 20, 2018Oklahoma2–1No. 12 Oklahoma State
October 4, 2018Clemson1–0No. 10 Florida State
October 7, 2018Maryland2–1No. 14 Northwestern
October 7, 2018Pepperdine1–0No. 4 Santa Clara
October 7, 2018Utah1–0No. 7 Washington State
October 7, 2018No. 19 Vanderbilt3–1No. 9 Tennessee
October 11, 2018UCF1–0No. 15 Memphis
October 14, 2018USF2–0No. 15 Memphis
October 19, 2018Alabama1–0No. 5 Texas A&M
October 21, 2018No. 18 Tennessee4–0No. 5 Texas A&M
October 21, 2018LSU4–0No. 7 South Carolina
October 25, 2018Kansas1–0 No. 13 West Virginia
October 25, 2018Ole Miss1–0No. 7 Vanderbilt
October 27, 2018BYU2–0No. 6 Santa Clara

Award winners

Players of the Week

Conference winners and tournaments

Conference Standings