Women’s Soccer 2012 Final Top 25 Rankings
December 4, 2012 · CSM Staff
| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  |
North Carolina | North Carolina had their ups and downs in 2012, but they were hot at the right time and won the national title. | |
| 2 |  |
Penn State | Penn State earned one of the four #1 seeds in the tournament and made it all the way to the finals. | |
| 3 |  |
Stanford | Stanford made it to San Diego for another Final Four, but lost in the semi’s to eventual national champs UNC. | |
| 4 |  |
Florida State | Florida State was the hot team throughout much of the season. It was a great year but ended earlier than hoped. | |
| 5 |  |
UCLA | The Bruins season ended at the hands of conference foe Stanford in the quarterfinals. This team will be back. | |
| 6 |  |
Duke | Duke was scoring a ton of goals in the NCAA Tournament before they ran into Penn State in the quarterfinals. | |
| 7 |  |
Brigham Young | BYU proved that they belonged in the top ten after earning a #1 seed and reaching the quarterfinals. | |
| 8 |  |
Notre Dame | Notre Dame was an unseeded team in the tournament, with a gripe, but they made a great run anyway. | |
| 9 |  |
Marquette | Marquette had a great 2012 season, but it ended in the third round of the tournament thanks to BYU. | |
| 10 |  |
Texas A&M | Texas A&M had a tough draw in the tournament and ended up losing 4-0 to Florida State in the third round. | |
| 11 |  |
San Diego State | The Aztecs were playing great soccer at the end of the season until they ran into a talented UCLA squad. | |
| 12 |  |
Wake Forest | Wake Forest was knocked out of the tournament early, but they still had a fine season in the always tough ACC. | |
| 13 |  |
Florida | Florida was not the only team that was upset by Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament, but they won a couple first. | |
| 14 |  |
Georgetown | The Hoyas had a very good regular season, but the talented midfield and keeper Emma Newins fell to Baylor. | |
| 15 |  |
Virginia | Caroline Miller had another great season at Virginia, but their postseason trip was cut short by Duke. | |
| 16 |  |
California | California got a nice win over Pepperdine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before pushing SDSU. | |
| 17 |  |
Baylor | It is always tough to exit the tournament on penalty kicks, as Baylor did against UNC, but the Bears had a good year. | |
| 18 |  |
Maryland | Maryland lost a thriller to Denver in the second round of the tournament, but their overall resume was impressive. | |
| 19 |  |
Michigan | The Wolverines made a nice run to the third round and gave Penn State a very good game that ended in PK’s. | |
| 20 |  |
Denver | Denver made some noise in November with a 3-2 win over Maryland. Then they ran into Stanford. | |
| 21 |  |
Santa Clara | Santa Clara’s tournament dreams ended in Palo Alto as well, but the rematch was much, much closer. | |
| 22 |  |
Boston College | Boston College’s defense was no match for the potent Penn State offense in the second round of the tournament. | |
| 23 |  |
Texas Tech | Back in the second round Texas Tech nearly beat FSU, which would have put the bracket in turmoil. | |
| 24 |  |
UCF | UCF beat Miami (FL) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament yet again. Next year they’ll look for more. | |
| 25 |  |
West Virginia | West Virginia fell to Princeton in the first round of tournament, but they had a very solid season overall. | |
