# 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference women's soccer season

The 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference women's soccer season was the 35th season of women's varsity soccer in the conference.
North Carolina and were Florida State the defending regular season champions. Florida State was the defending ACC tournament champions.
Florida State successfully defended its regular season and ACC tournament title. They finished 9–0–1 in ACC play and won both of their games in the ACC Tournament. Florida State would go on to win the national championship, and complete an undefeated season. They were the first team to finish undefeated since Stanford in 2011.

## Teams
### Stadiums and locations

| Team | Stadium | Capacity |
| Boston College Eagles | Newton Soccer Complex | 1,800 |
| Clemson Tigers | Riggs Field | 6,500 |
| Duke Blue Devils | Koskinen Stadium | 7,000 |
| Florida State Seminoles | Seminole Soccer Complex | 2,000 |
| Louisville Cardinals | Lynn Stadium | 5,300 |
| Miami Hurricanes | Cobb Stadium | 500 |
| NC State | Dail Soccer Field | 3,000 |
| North Carolina Tar Heels | Dorrance Field | 4,200 |
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish | Alumni Stadium | 2,500 |
| Pittsburgh Panthers | Ambrose Urbanic Field | 735 |
| Syracuse Orange | SU Soccer Stadium | 1,500 |
| Virginia Cavaliers | Klöckner Stadium | 7,100 |
| Virginia Tech Hokies | Thompson Field | 2,500 |
| Wake Forest Demon Deacons | Spry Stadium | 3,000 |
1. ^ Georgia Tech does not sponsor women's soccer

## Coaches
### Head Coaching Records

| Team | Head coach | Years at school | Overall record | Record at school | ACC record |
| Boston College | Jason Lowe | 5 | 23–36–9 | 23–36–9 | 4–31–3 |
| Clemson | Eddie Radwanski | 13 | 264–142–43 | 125–77–30 | 54–55–12 |
| Duke | Robbie Church | 23 | 375–189–74 | 287–140–63 | 110–65–36 |
| Florida State | Brian Pensky | 2 | 17–3–3 | 17–3–3 | 8–2–0 |
| Louisville | Karen Ferguson-Dayes | 22 | 200–183–41 | 200–183–41 | 33–45–11 |
| Miami | Sarah Barnes | 6 | 81–90–23 | 21–49–9 | 8–37–3 |
| North Carolina | Anson Dorrance | 45 | 883–78–42 | 883–78–42 | 221–30–13 |
| NC State | Tim Santoro | 11 | 83–89–23 | 83–89–23 | 25–58–10 |
| Notre Dame | Nate Norman | 6 | 114–69–21 | 56–34–7 | 26–19–1 |
| Pittsburgh | Randy Waldrum | 6 | 444–147–36 | 45–39–7 | 21–35–4 |
| Syracuse | Nicky Adams | 5 | 16–37–6 | 16–37–6 | 3–30–4 |
| Virginia | Steve Swanson | 23 | 467–168–67 | 363–105–56 | 144–48–25 |
| Virginia Tech | Charles Adair | 13 | 148–75–24 | 148–75–24 | 55–51–16 |
| Wake Forest | Tony da Luz | 26 | 338–234–55 | 293–193–53 | 99–116–24 |
Notes
* Records shown are prior to the 2023 season
* Years at school includes the 2023 season

## Pre-season
### Hermann Trophy Watchlist

The Hermann Trophy preseason watchlist was released on the first day of the season August 17, 2023.
| Player | Class | Position | School |
| Megan Bornkamp | Junior | DF | Clemson |
| Jody Brown | Senior | FW | Florida State |
| Leah Freeman | Senior | GK | Duke |
| Eva Gaetino | Senior | DF | Notre Dame |
| Lia Godfrey | Senior | MF | Virginia |
| Taylor Huff | Junior | MF | Florida State |
| Sam Meza | Senior | MF | North Carolina |
| Cristina Roque | Senior | GK | Florida State |

### Pre-season poll

The pre-season poll and pre-season all conference teams were voted on by the league's 14 head coaches. The results of the poll were released on August 10, 2023.

#### Pre-season Coaches Poll

| Predicted finish | Team | Points (1st place) |
| 1 | North Carolina | 166 (10) |
| 2 | Florida State | 146 (2) |
| 3 | Virginia | 139 (1) |
| 4 | Notre Dame | 134 |
| 5 | Duke | 126 (1) |
| 6 | Clemson | 104 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh | 103 |
| 8 | Wake Forest | 87 |
| 9 | Virginia Tech | 81 |
| 10 | NC State | 62 |
| 11 | Louisville | 47 |
| 12 | Syracuse | 35 |
| 13 | Miami | 24 |
| 14 | Boston College | 20 |
Source:

#### Pre-season All-ACC Team

| Position | Player | Class | School |
| Goalkeeper | Cristina Roque | Senior | Florida State |
| Defender | Maycee Bell | Senior | North Carolina |
| Defender | Megan Bornkamp | Senior | Clemson |
| Defender | Eva Gaetino | Senior | Notre Dame |
| Midfielder | Hal Hershfelt | Graduate Student | Clemson |
| Midfielder | Sam Meza | Senior | North Carolina |
| Midfielder | Ally Sentnor | Sophomore | North Carolina |
| Forward | Jody Brown | Senior | Florida State |
| Forward | Maggie Cagle | Sophomore | Virginia |
| Forward | Jameese Joseph | Senior | NC State |
| Forward | Kat Rader | Sophomore | Duke |
| Forward | Amanda West | Graduate Student | Pittsburgh |
Source:

## Regular season
### Conference Matrix

The table below shows head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team plays ten matches. Each team does not play every other team.
| | Boston College | Clemson | Duke | Florida State | Louisville | Miami | North Carolina | NC State | Notre Dame | Pittsburgh | Syracuse | Virginia | Virginia Tech | Wake Forest |
| vs. Boston College | – | 2–0 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 1–1 | DNP | 1–1 | DNP | 3–1 | 2–0 | DNP | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Clemson | 0–2 | – | 0–1 | 4–2 | 0–3 | 0–5 | DNP | DNP | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 0–1 | DNP |
| vs. Duke | 0–2 | 1–0 | – | 4–0 | 1–0 | DNP | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | DNP | 1–1 | 0–1 | DNP |
| vs. Florida State | 0–6 | 2–4 | 0–4 | – | 0–2 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 0–5 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 2–3 | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| vs. Louisville | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | – | 1–0 | DNP | DNP | 3–0 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 1–1 | DNP | 1–0 |
| vs. Miami | DNP | 5–0 | DNP | 2–0 | 0–1 | – | 1–0 | 0–0 | 7–2 | DNP | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. North Carolina | 1–1 | DNP | 1–1 | 3–3 | DNP | 0–1 | – | 0–4 | 1–1 | DNP | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. NC State | DNP | DNP | 0–0 | 5–0 | DNP | 0–0 | 4–0 | – | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Notre Dame | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 0–3 | 2–7 | 1–1 | 0–1 | – | 1–1 | DNP | DNP | DNP | 1–3 |
| vs. Pittsburgh | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 3–2 | DNP | DNP | 0–2 | 1–1 | – | 0–6 | DNP | 1–2 | 1–4 |
| vs. Syracuse | DNP | 5–1 | DNP | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | DNP | 6–0 | – | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2–2 |
| vs. Virginia | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | DNP | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | DNP | DNP | 0–4 | – | 0–3 | 2–0 |
| vs. Virginia Tech | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | DNP | DNP | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–4 | DNP | 2–1 | 0–4 | 3–0 | – | 2–0 |
| vs. Wake Forest | 1–1 | DNP | DNP | DNP | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | – |
| Total | 0–6–4 | 7–2–1 | 2–5–3 | 9–0–1 | 3–5–2 | 2–7–1 | 5–0–5 | 2–5–3 | 7–1–2 | 6–3–1 | 0–9–1 | 3–3–4 | 4–6–0 | 4–2–4 |

### Rankings
#### United Soccer

Legend :
* Increase in ranking
* Decrease in ranking
* Not ranked previous week
| | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Final |
| Boston College | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Clemson | 25 | 19 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 3 |
| Duke | 4 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 22 | 23 | RV | 25т | | |
| Florida State | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 (1) | 2 | 2 | 1 (8) | 1 (7) | 1 (8) | 1 (8) | 1 (8) |
| Louisville | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Miami | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| North Carolina | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 (7) | 1 (8) | 1 (8) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 8 |
| NC State | | RV | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Notre Dame | 3 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 16 |
| Pittsburgh | 14 | 21 | 21 | 22 | RV | RV | | RV | 17 | 18 | 20 | 11 | 6 |
| Syracuse | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Virginia | 5 | 5 | 12 | 18 | 20 | 22 | | | | | | | |
| Virginia Tech | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wake Forest | | | | RV | RV | | 25 | 17 | | RV | RV | 25 | |

#### Top Drawer Soccer

Legend :
* Increase in ranking
* Decrease in ranking
* Not ranked previous week
| | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Final |
| Boston College | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Clemson | | | | | 14 | 16 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Duke | 8 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 19 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Florida State | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Louisville | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Miami | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| North Carolina | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| NC State | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Notre Dame | 7 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 16 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
| Pittsburgh | 15 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Syracuse | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Virginia | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 15 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Virginia Tech | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Wake Forest | | | | | | | | 25 | | | | | | | | | |

### Players of the Week

| Week | Offensive Player of the week | Defensive Player of the week |
| Week 1 – August 22 | Taylor Huff – Florida State | Savy King – North Carolina |
| Week 2 – August 29 | Sarah Schupansky – Pittsburgh | Sam Meza – North Carolina |
| Week 3 – September 5 | Meredith McDermott – Virginia | Savy King (2) – North Carolina |
| Week 4 – September 12 | Avery Patterson – North Carolina | Halle Mackiewicz – Clemson |
| Week 5 – September 19 | Carina Lageyre – Duke | Maycee Bell – North Carolina |
| Week 6 – September 26 | Ally Sentnor – North Carolina | Mackenzie Duff – Clemson |
| Week 7 – October 3 | Kiki Van Zanten – Notre Dame | Laurel Ansbrow – Wake Forest |
| Week 8 – October 10 | Ellie Ospeck – Notre Dame | Ran Iwai – Florida State |
| Week 9 – October 17 | Onyi Echegini – Florida State | Makenna Morris – Clemson |
| Week 10 – October 24 | Renee Lyles – Clemson | Makenna Morris (2) – Clemson |
| Week 10 – October 24 | Onyi Echegini (2) – Florida State | Makenna Morris (2) – Clemson |
| Week 11 – October 31 | Emma Hiscock – Louisville | Lauren Flynn – Florida State |

## Postseason
### ACC Tournament

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Florida State | 2 | | | |
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 0 | | | |
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 0 | 1 | Florida State | 2 |
| | | | 3 | Clemson | 1 |
| 2 | Notre Dame | 2 | 3 | Clemson | 1 |
| 3 | Clemson | 3 | | | |

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | School | Region | 1st Round | 2nd Round | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| 1 | Florida State | Florida State | W 5–0 vs. Morehead State – (Tallahassee, FL) | W 1–0 vs. Texas A&M – (Tallahassee, FL) | W 5–0 vs. Texas – (Tallahassee, FL) | W 3–0 vs. No. 11 Pittsburgh – (Tallahassee, FL) | W 2–0 vs. No. 7 Clemson – (Cary, NC) | W 5–1 vs. No. 3 Stanford – (Cary, NC) |
| 1 | Clemson | Clemson | W 2–0 vs. Radford – (Clemson, SC) | W 2–1 vs. Columbia – (Clemson, SC) | T 1–1 (5–3 PKs) vs. Georgia – (Clemson, SC) | W 2–1 vs. No. 5 Penn State – (Clemson, SC) | L 0–2 vs. No. 1 Florida State – (Cary, NC) | |
| 3 | North Carolina | BYU | W 3–1 vs. Towson – (Chapel Hill, NC) | W 1–0 vs. No. 24 Alabama – (Lubbock, TX) | W 1–0 @ No. 4 Texas Tech – (Lubbock, TX) | L 3–4 @ No. 6 BYU – (Provo, UT) | | |
| 3 | Notre Dame | Florida State | W 2–0 vs. Valparaiso – (Notre Dame, IN) | L 2–3 vs. No. 8 Memphis – (Fayetteville, AR) | | | | |
| 7 | Pittsburgh | Florida State | W 6–0 vs. Ohio State – (Pittsburgh, PA) | W 4–3 @ No. 10 Arkansas – (Fayetteville, AR) | W 3–0 vs No. 8 Memphis – (Fayetteville, AR) | L 0–3 vs. No. 1 Florida State – (Tallahassee, FL) | | |
| W–L (%): | W–L (%): | W–L (%): | 5–0–0 (1.000) | 4–1–0 (.800) | 3–0–1 (.875) | 2–2–0 (.500) | 1–1–0 (.500) | 1–0–0 (1.000) Total: 16–4–1 (.786) |

## Awards and honors

Conference end of season awards were released on November 1, 2023, prior to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. Onyi Echegini was named Offensive Player of the Year, Eva Gaetino won Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row, and Brian Pensky was named Coach of the Year. A full list of award winners and All-ACC Teams is shown below.

### ACC Awards

2023 ACC Women's Soccer Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Coach of the Year | Brian Pensky – Florida State |
| Offensive Player of the Year | Onyi Echegini – Florida State |
| Midfielder of the Year | Ally Sentnor – North Carolina |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Eva Gaetino – Notre Dame |
| Goalkeeper of the Year | Halle Mackiewicz – Clemson |
| Freshman of the Year | Jordynn Dudley – Florida State |
2023 ACC Women's Soccer All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team | All-Freshman Team |
| Hal Hershfelt – Clemson Halle Mackiewicz – Clemson Makenna Morris – Clemson Jody Brown – Florida State Jordynn Dudley – Florida State Onyi Echegini – Florida State Avery Patterson – North Carolina Ally Sentnor – North Carolina Eva Gaetino – Notre Dame Kiki Van Zanten – Notre Dame Sarah Schupansky – Pittsburgh | Kat Rader – Duke Taylor Huff – Florida State Leilanni Nesbeth – Florida State Cristina Roque – Florida State Maycee Bell – North Carolina Savy King – North Carolina Sam Meza – North Carolina Leah Klenke – Notre Dame Maddie Mercado – Notre Dame Amanda West – Pittsburgh Maggie Cagle – Virginia Caiya Hanks – Wake Forest | Megan Bornkamp – Clemson Caroline Conti – Clemson Harper White – Clemson Leah Freeman – Duke Beata Olsson – Florida State Lucy Roberts – Louisville Jameese Joseph – NC State Deborah Abiodun – Pittsburgh Landy Mertz – Pittsburgh Samiah Phiri – Pittsburgh Natalie Mitchell – Virginia Tech | Dani Davis – Clemson Tatum Short – Clemson Jenna Tobia – Clemson Cameron Roller – Duke Jordynn Dudley – Florida State Mimi Van Zanten – Florida State Savy King – North Carolina Evelyn Shores – North Carolina Deborah Abiodun – Pittsburgh Charlie Codd – Notre Dame Morgan Roy – Notre Dame Yuna McCormack – Virginia Dempsey Brown – Wake Forest |

### All-Americans

2023 United Soccer Coaches All-Americans :
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team |
| Eva Gaetino – Notre Dame Onyi Echegini – Florida State Jordynn Dudley – Florida State | Halle Mackiewicz – Clemson Makenna Morris – Clemson Taylor Huff – Florida State Jody Brown – Florida State | Cristina Roque – Florida State Ally Sentnor – North Carolina Avery Patterson – North Carolina |

## 2024 NWSL Draft

The ACC had a conference record nineteen players drafted in the 2024 NWSL Draft. They had the top two picks selected, three of the top five picks, and six overall first round selections. Seven different schools had players selected in the draft.
| FW | Forward | MF | Midfielder | DF | Defender | GK | Goalkeeper |
| Player | Team | Round | Pick # | Position | School |
| Ally Sentnor | Utah Royals | 1 | 1 | MF | North Carolina |
| Savy King | Bay FC | 1 | 2 | DF | North Carolina |
| Hal Hershfelt | Washington Spirit | 1 | 5 | MF | Clemson |
| Leilanni Nesbeth | Chicago Red Stars | 1 | 10 | MF | Florida State |
| Makenna Morris | Washington Spirit | 1 | 13 | DF | Clemson |
| Maycee Bell | NJ/NY Gotham FC | 1 | 14 | DF | North Carolina |
| Jameese Joseph | Chicago Red Stars | 2 | 15 | FW | NC State |
| Lauren Flynn | Utah Royals | 2 | 16 | DF | Florida State |
| Sam Meza | Seattle Reign FC | 2 | 17 | MF | North Carolina |
| Avery Patterson | Houston Dash | 2 | 19 | FW | North Carolina |
| Kiki Van Zanten | Houston Dash | 2 | 21 | FW | Notre Dame |
| Natalia Staude | North Carolina Courage | 2 | 24 | DF | Virginia |
| Maddie Mercado | Seattle Reign FC | 2 | 27 | FW | Notre Dame |
| Halle Mackiewicz | Kansas City Current | 3 | 32 | GK | Clemson |
| Cristina Roque | Utah Royals | 3 | 33 | GK | Florida State |
| Caroline Conti | Bay FC | 3 | 34 | MF | Clemson |
| Amanda West | Houston Dash | 3 | 36 | FW | Pittsburgh |
| Julia Dorsey | North Carolina Courage | 3 | 40 | DF | North Carolina |
| Landy Mertz | North Carolina Courage | 4 | 52 | FW | Pittsburgh |