Final answer:
Ms. Patel divides the 18 soccer balls equally among 3 teams, resulting in each team getting 6 soccer balls.
Step-by-step explanation:
Ms. Patel has 18 soccer balls and wants to distribute them equally among 3 teams. To find out how many soccer balls each team gets, you perform a division. The correct expression to represent this problem is 18 : 3, which equals 6. Therefore, each team receives 6 soccer balls.