By Mary Fornelli

Women’s division 1 college soccer is constantly growing and becoming more competitive. Division 1 soccer is the highest level of collegiate soccer with players coming from around the country. Division 1 soccer is authorized by the NCAA. 

In the span of 2015 to 2019 four different college teams have won the College Cup and four other colleges have made it to the final but came up short. Starting from the tenth to the best division 1 soccer team the order is South Carolina, Texas A&M, West Virginia, USC, Virginia, Duke, Penn State, North Carolina, Florida State, and Stanford in first place. 

In 2015 Penn State and Duke made it to the College Cup. Penn State was able to capture the title that year beating Duke 1-0. USC was able to defeat West Virginia 3-1 in the 2016 College Cup final. Moving onto 2017 the College Cup title was against Stanford and UCLA. UCLA came up short, losing the game 3-2. In 2018 Florida State defeated North Carolina 1-0, capturing the title. In 2019 Stanford and North Carolina made another appearance in the College Cup. In a penalty shootout Stanford was able to pull away, beating North Carolina 5-4. 

The standings for the best division 1 women’s soccer teams is constantly changing. But looking at the College Cup finals over the past five years Stanford was able to capture two titles. Stanford is the best division 1 school for women’s soccer in the country.