Evan Marinofsky | NCAA.com | August 27, 2021 Women's college soccer rankings: Florida State, Santa Clara lead preseason Top 25 Florida State v. Santa Clara: Full PK shootout Share Florida State ranks No. 1 in the 2021 United Soccer Coaches preseason Top 25 poll after falling just short of winning the title last season. The Seminoles' lineup is headlined by Jaelin Howell, last season's Hermann Trophy winner. Santa Clara, which took down Florida State in the championship game on penalty kicks, opens the season at No. 2. The Broncos did, however, garner more first-place votes than No. 1 Florida State, with 18 compared to the Seminoles' 11. Rank SCHOOL POINTS PREV 1 Florida State (11) 794 2 2 Santa Clara (18) 788 1 3 North Carolina (3) 763 3 4 Virginia (1) 723 4 5 UCLA 672 9 6 Duke 628 7 7 Clemson 608 6 8 TCU 587 5 9 Texas A&M 539 8 10 Penn State 500 11 11 Georgetown 452 10 12 West Virginia 435 13 13 Arkansas 412 12 14 Southern California 365 18 15 BYU 353 17 16 Oklahoma State 307 14 17 South Carolina 298 22 18 Vanderbilt 258 21 19 Washington 253 15 20 USF 216 19 21 Saint Louis 175 20 22 Rice 150 16 23 Mississippi 123 23 24 Stanford 73 NR 25 Rutgers 58 24 UCLA also brings back Reilyn Turner, who won Pac-12 Freshman of the Year last season. Goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy won Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year last season. An interesting point to note: Santa Clara was in the "also receiving votes" section of last year's first poll before going 10-1-1 and winning the national title. The Broncos open their 2021 season against San Jose State on Thursday, Aug. 19. Top-ranked Florida State also begins its season that day, when No. 9 Texas A&M visits. ⚽️LATEST WOMEN'S COLLEGE SOCCER NEWS ⚽️ 📊 POLLS: United Soccer Coaches | NCAA Women's Soccer RPI 📊 🏆 CHAMPS SZN: Follow the College Cup | Undefeated teams remaining 📰 HISTORY: Schools with most national titles | College Cup all-time history 🥅 👉 MORE: Season statistics | MAC Hermann watch list 👀 PROP approves changes to soccer overtime rules Overtime will not be played in the regular season, and sudden-victory format will be eliminated in postseason. READ MORE 10 memorable NCAA DII sports moments from fall 2021 The much-awaited return to NCAA DII fall sports certainly didn't disappoint. First time champions, upsets galore and record-setting runs highlight the first half of the 2021-22 athletics year. READ MORE DII women’s soccer teams with the most NCAA DII national championships Here are the five programs that have won the most DII women's soccer championships. READ MORE