2026 Women’s Soccer Top 25

[CentPA]

Upset in the top 25:

Last night unranked Trinity (CT) hosted #6 Wesleyan (CT) in a NESCAC conference game and Trinity game away with the win 3-1!  Wesleyan had just bumped up from #7 to #6 in the new poll earlier in the day.

Trinity was up 2-0 in the first half and scored another goal in the second half before Wesleyan scored their lone goal with 3 minutes left in the game.  I watched the first half and would say that Wesleyan had the better possession but just didn't seem very organized in the attacking third.  Trinity scored on quick runs of play after Wesleyan lost possession.  The stats show that Wesleyan out shot Trinity 12-6 and shots on goal 5-3.  Trinity scored on all three of their shots on goal while GK Zoe Tamborello had 4 saves. 

[CentPA]

So this is interesting ..

I went to watch the Chicago vs North Central game this afternoon and the game was never started. 

When I looked at the "Schedule" page on Chicago's website it had under "vs #13 North Central (IL)" the following:  "North Central women's soccer has forfeited game with refusal to play" and on the right side it read: "Game Forfeited by North Central"  No further explanation that I can find.

However, when I went to North Central's "Schedule" page it simply showed the game as "Postponed"

Never saw anything like this and I'm not sure what happened.

[CentPA]

Chicago just posted this announcement:


"CHICAGO -- The Wednesday afternoon women's soccer match between #21 UChicago and #13 North Central (IL) will not be played on Wednesday afternoon after the decision by the North Central College coaching staff that the Cardinals will not be making the trip to Hyde Park. The game will go down as a forfeit in favor of the Maroons.

Despite the rainy conditions, the University of Chicago Department of Athletics and Recreation had prepared the natural grass pitch and the artificial turf surface at Stagg Field with the expectation of playing the match as scheduled this afternoon.  Unfortunately, North Central was unwilling to make the trip, resulting in the forfeit.

The University of Chicago's first-ever nationally broadcast game will now have to wait, as it was set to be the first University Athletic Association contest in league history to air live on Prime Video.

The women's soccer program will return to action this weekend as the Maroons fly to New York City for a top-25 matchup with #22 NYU in the UAA opener."

[CentPA]

At the time I'm posting this, neither team has adjusted their YTD season results.  I'm not sure what will happen to the official record for each team.

Has this ever happened before?

[CentPA]

#10 Rochester suffered their second straight draw at home yesterday to unranked RIT out of the Liberty League conference 2-2.  That is two ties to unranked teams back to back at home.  After their tie to Misericordia on Saturday they went from #22 to #10 in this weeks poll so maybe after this tie they will put some pressure on their UAA foe, Wash U, for the #1 spot. 

There was no score in the first half and then Rochester scored two goals in the first eight minutes of the second half and you would have thought they had the game well under control.  However, RIT, who only had two shots on goal all game, scored on both of them withing six minutes of each other in the 67th and 73rd minute to tie the game up.

[Gregory Sager]

Neither North Central nor the CCIW has recognized last night's non-contest in Hyde Park as a forfeit loss for the Cardinals. Both NCC and the league continue to show it as a postponement on their respective websites, although North Central hasn't posted a gamer on its website explaining the postponement and updating the game with either a  new date, time, and location or a TBA, as is customary in the event of a postponement.

[CentPA]

Neither North Central nor the CCIW has recognized last night's non-contest in Hyde Park as a forfeit loss for the Cardinals. Both NCC and the league continue to show it as a postponement on their respective websites, although North Central hasn't posted a gamer on its website explaining the postponement and updating the game with either a  new date, time, and location or a TBA, as is customary in the event of a postponement.

Chicago is definitely upset and wants the forfeit win. I am guessing that someone or some committee at the NCAA is dealing with this now to determine what will happen.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I guess if there is a forfeit win/loss that would also impact the NPI calculations even though there was no on field competition.??

[Gregory Sager]

Yep. In terms of forfeits a win is a win as far as the D3 Championships Committee is concerned.

As to who will adjudicate the North Central @ Chicago contretemps, that's unclear at this point. It sounds as though the facts might be in dispute regarding the agreement (or lack thereof) reached by the Cardinals and Maroons coaches last night. If it was a league game the issue could be settled by the league's commissioner, but, alas, the two teams represent two different leagues.

[lmitzel]

Here's the thing with this though as far as I can tell: Chicago can't declare this a forfeit win because NCAA rules don't allow it.

When a scheduled game is terminated before it begins, it is recorded as "no contest." Neither team is credited with a win or loss, regardless of the reason why the game was terminated.