News of the week:Tide Soccer ranked in top 25

I started following women's soccer a few years ago when Mississippi native Molly Atherton played. Her dad Johnny is a good friend from Gulfport and it was always a fun afternoon watching the team with friends from Mississippi. Molly finished her senior year in 2012 as a leader and gave us Mississippi Tide fans a thrill to watch as she finished as the all-time shot leader with 199. She played in all 18 games and started 17. She had 8 points on the year on two goals and four assists. It was a great intro for Virginia and me to this team.

This week Soccer American ranked the Tide no. 19 in its Week Four College Top 25. The Tide also advanced from 8th to 6th in the MSCAA Southeast Regional Poll.  The Tide is 7-1 on the season, including wins over Jacksonville, Samford, Florida State, South Alabama and Troy. The lone loss was to South Florida, 2-1, back in August.

The win over the Noles was its first win over a Top 10 opponent. This Friday Sept. 15 the Tide will open SEC matches against no. 3 South Carolina on the road and return to T-town Sunday to host Chattanooga. If you're still around Sunday late, you should check out the match at 5.