Women's Soccer Debuts at No. 12 In Preseason National Poll
7/31/2025 8:24:00 PM | Women's Soccer
East Lansing, Mich. --  Michigan State debuts at No. 12 in the United Soccer Coaches pre-season national poll, released on Thursday, July 31. It is the highest pre-season ranking for the Spartans in program history. Â
MSU, which advanced to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Division I Championship in each of the last two seasons, completed the 2024 campaign with a 14-3-5 overall record, and were ranked No. 14 in the final poll of the season. Â
MSU is one of eight Big Ten programs that appear in the preseason top 25, and the Spartans will take on six of the other seven during the course of the upcoming season. Â MSU will also test itself with a game against preseason No. 2 Notre Dame at home on Sept. 4, and will tangle with No. 9 TCU in its exhibition game at DeMartin Stadium next Saturday (Aug. 9). Â
The 2025 edition of the Spartans began pre-season camp on Tuesday, welcoming nine freshmen and two junior transfers to its roster of 19 returning players. Â Michigan State returns its leading goal scorer from a year ago in junior Bella Najera and will be bolstered by the return of both graduate student Regan Dalton and senior Emerson Sargeant, who each missed most of last season with injury. Â Defensive stalwarts and seniors Sofia Beerworth and Maggie Illig, and sophomore standout Julia Belli, all started at least 20 games a year ago and will help anchor the defense. Â Both Illig and Najera earned All-Big Ten honors a year ago, with Illig also earning All-Region honors. Â
2025 United Soccer Coaches Division I Pre-season PollÂ
   School, Points    2024 W-L-T   Â
1Â Â Â North Carolina, 200Â Â Â 22-5-0
2Â Â Â Notre Dame, 190Â Â Â 14-4-4
3Â Â Â Florida State, 177Â Â Â 15-2-4
4Â Â Â Duke, 172Â Â Â 18-3-1
5Â Â Â USC, 158Â Â Â 18-1-4
6Â Â Â Arkansas, 154Â Â Â 16-2-3
7Â Â Â Stanford, 141Â Â Â 16-5-2
8Â Â Â UCLA, 126Â Â Â 17-4-3
9Â Â Â TCU, 123Â Â Â 17-4-2
10Â Â Â Wake Forest , 114Â Â Â 16-4-4
11Â Â Â Penn State , 112Â Â Â 15-7-3
12Â Â Â Michigan State, 107Â Â Â 14-3-5
13Â Â Â Iowa, 91Â Â Â 15-3-4
14Â Â Â Virginia Tech, 87Â Â Â 14-6-3
15Â Â Â Virginia, 76Â Â Â 13-5-1
16Â Â Â Santa Clara, 70Â Â Â 13-4-4
17Â Â Â Vanderbilt, 67Â Â Â 10-4-7
18Â Â Â Ohio State, 61Â Â Â 14-6-3
19Â Â Â Texas, 59Â Â Â 17-4-2
20Â Â Â Mississippi State, 47Â Â Â 19-3-0
21Â Â Â South Carolina, 45Â Â Â 11-4-7
22Â Â Â Oklahoma State, 43Â Â Â 14-5-3
23Â Â Â Wisconsin, 37Â Â Â 10-6-5
24Â Â Â Minnesota, 26Â Â Â 14-5-3
25Â Â Â Texas Tech , 24Â Â Â 15-5-2
Also receiving votes: Saint Louis  (17),  Georgia (16), BYU (12), Auburn University (9),  Memphis (9), Georgetown (9),  California (8), Clemson (6), Pepperdine (5),  Kentucky (2)
