The first round of the 2025 NCAA women’s soccer tournament has concluded. As teams recoup from losses or prepare for upcoming competition, here are some storylines to follow:

No. 3 seed Tennessee falls to unranked North Carolina

This may be an off-year for the Tar Heels, the winning-est program of all time in women’s college soccer, but their lack of a seed heading into this year’s tournament did not mean they should be underestimated. The Tar Heels beat the Tennessee Volunteers (No. 3) 3-1 to advance to the second round. Though the Vols struck first, the Tar Heels came back to score three goals,.including a brace from forward Kate Faasse - her third of the season.

Just like North Carolina’s unranked status is not a full representation of this team, neither is Tennessee’s early elimination; the team was ranked in the Top 25 all season, reaching a No.1 rank on Sept. 9 and spending much of the rest of the season in the Top 5. But, as all do-or-die tournaments go, you have to win when it counts. They are the highest seed to fall so far in this tournament, and they finish 2025 with a 12-4-3 overall record. North Carolina will next face Texas Tech on Nov. 20.

Louisville defeats Kentucky in penalty kicks

The only game to reach penalty kicks in the first round of the NCAAs was, so satisfyingly, between deep rivals Louisville and Kentucky. Kentucky got on the board first, scoring in the 47th minute, and Louisville answered with a goal in the 79th. After a goal-less overtime, the game went to penalty kicks, which Louisville won, 5-4. This was Louisville's first win in penalties since Oct. 25, 2013, and they’ll next face the University of Kansas (No. 3 seed) on Nov. 20.

No more Cinderella stories

The two teams to make their first appearances in the NCAA tournament this year exited as quickly as they arrived. The University of Illinois Chicago concluded its first-ever tournament bid with a loss to No. 1 Notre Dame, and Wagner also concluded a historic season with a loss to No. 7 West Virginia. Though their stories end here, they have no reason to hang their heads. UIC finished with an 8-8-6 overall record and held the Missouri Valley Conference trophy for the first time. Wagner finished with an 11-3-6 overall record and also earned its first conference title

Can anyone stop the ACC?

The ACC has been known as the hotbed conference of women’s soccer in this country for decades, and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. For the second year in a row, nine teams are advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament. This is the second-most second-round berths for the conference in history, just behind 2011, when the conference sent 10 teams past the first round. The conference’s top three seeds are Notre Dame, Stanford, and Virginia, but six other schools (Duke, Florida State, Wake Forest, Clemson, Louisville and North Carolina) earned crucial victories that kept them in the dance. But, the competition gets stiff from here; in the second round, every remaining ACC team except for Notre Dame and Florida State will play a ranked opponent.