No. 1 Carolina women’s soccer is headed back on the road Friday night, and the first stop is a big one: No. 22 Florida State.
The Tar Heels and Seminoles will meet in Tallahassee at 6 p.m., with the matchup available on ESPNU. It’s the 53rd all-time meeting between the programs, two of the sport’s regular heavyweights. Carolina owns the series edge at 31-15-6, though Florida State has taken the last three.
UNC arrives with plenty of momentum. The Tar Heels have won eight straight, including three victories over top-20 opponents, and they sit alone atop the ACC standings at 4-0 with 12 points. They’ve also been sharp away from Chapel Hill, going 4-0 on the road and outscoring opponents 8-2 in those games.
Bella Devey has been at the center of the attack. She just picked up her third ACC Offensive Player of the Week honor after scoring her fourth brace of the season, and she now leads the ACC and ranks second in the NCAA with 14 goals. Carolina’s offense has been rolling around her, with the Tar Heels putting up 43 goals and 114 total points while averaging 3.58 goals per game.
The defense has done its part, too. Carolina has allowed only eight goals all season and has posted seven shutouts.
Freshman Cali O'Neill has been a major piece of that back line and earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 6.
The Tar Heels also come in fresh off their third ranked win of the year, a victory over No. 12 Notre Dame. They were recently ranked No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll, marking the 38th season in program history that Carolina has held that spot.
A few more numbers tell the rest of the story. Summer Denigan and Bella Devey were both named to the MAC Hermann Mid-Season Watch List.
Devey was also selected to the Preseason All-ACC Team. Lilliah Blum has five goals after recording her first career brace against Duke, and she was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week on Sept.
- Blum and Amari Manning share the team lead with five assists each.
In goal, Peyton Trayer has nine wins, 13 saves and seven shutouts. Carolina also had five players included in the Preseason TopDrawerSoccer Top 100 Rankings: Summer Denigan at No.
4, Izzi Stratton at No. 24, Bella Gaetino at No.
35, Bella Devey at No. 68 and Hope Munson at No. 77.
Denigan and Stratton were both named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, while Denigan, Stratton and O'Neill landed on Preseason TopDrawerSoccer Best XI teams.
Carolina was picked fifth in the ACC Preseason Poll, and three Tar Heels - Aven Alvarez, Hope Munson and Sealey Strawn - were named to the U-20 WNT roster for the 2026 U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup. That trio helped the national team reach the round of 16 at the tournament.
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