2006 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament explained

NCAA women's soccer tournament
Year:	2006
Other Titles:	Women's College Cup (semifinals & final)
Country:	United States
Dates:	November 8 – December 3, 2006
Num Teams:	64
Champions:	North Carolina Tar Heels (18th title, 22nd College Cup)
Runner-Up:	Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5th title match, 8th College Cup)
Semi-Finalist1:	Florida State Seminoles (3rd College Cup)
Semi-Finalist2:	UCLA Bruins (5th College Cup)
Matches:	63
Goals:	187
Attendance:	68298
Top Goal Scorer:	Kerri Hanks, ND (4G, 8A)
Player:	Defensive–Robyn Gayle (UNC) Offensive–Heather O'Reilly (UNC)
Prevseason:	2005
Nextseason:	2007
Updated:	15 July 2015

The 2006 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament (also known as the 2006 Women's College Cup) was the 25th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I women's collegiate soccer. The semifinals and championship game were played at SAS Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina from December 1–3, 2006 while the preceding rounds were played at various sites across the country from November 8–25.^[1]

North Carolina defeated Notre Dame in the final, 2–1, to win their eighteenth national title.^[2] This was a rematch of the 1994, 1996, and 1999 tournament finals, all won by the Tar Heels.

The most outstanding defensive player was Robyn Gayle from North Carolina, and the most outstanding offensive player was Heather O'Reilly, also from North Carolina. Gayle and O'Reilly, alongside nine other players, were named to the All-Tournament team.

The tournament's leading scorer, with 4 goals and 8 assists, was Kerri Hanks from Notre Dame.

Qualification

See main article: article.

All Division I women's soccer programs were eligible to qualify for the tournament. The tournament field remained fixed at 64 teams.^[3]

Pre-Tournament Top 25

1. Notre Dame
2. North Carolina
3. Santa Clara
4. UCLA
5. Florida State6. Texas
7. Portland
8. Texas A&M<br />9. Penn State
10. West Virginia11. Oklahoma State
12. Wake Forest
13. Utah
14. Florida
15. Rutgers16. Stanford
17. BYU
18. Villanova
19. Navy
20. Colorado21. California
22. Illinois
23. Tennessee
24.
25. William & Mary

Records

valign=top	North Carolina Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record Duke ACC At-large 09–8–2 Grambling State SWAC Automatic 09–6–2 Louisville Big East At-large 13–4–2 McNeese State Southland Automatic 10–6–2 Navy Patriot Automatic 21–1 1 North Carolina ACC Automatic 21–1 Old Dominion CAA Automatic 17–4–1 SMU Conference USA At-large 16–4–1 4 Tennessee SEC At-large 11–6–3 2 Texas A&M Big 12 At-large 14–5–1 UAB Conference USA Automatic 08–11–1 UNC-Asheville Big South Automatic 10–6–3 Virginia ACC At-large 10–7–2 3 Wake Forest ACC At-large 15–5–1 West Virginia Big East At-large 14–3–3 William & Mary CAA At-large 16–1–3	valign=top	Texas Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record BYU Mountain West At-large 13–2–4 Cal State Fullerton Big West Automatic 11–7–2 Columbia Ivy League Automatic 10–4–3 Connecticut Big East At-large 10–7–3 3 Florida SEC At-large 13–5–4 Idaho State Big Sky Automatic 10–8–1 Long Island Northeast Automatic 13–7–1 Loyola (IL) Horizon Automatic 14–6–3 Loyola Marymount West Coast At-large 10–2–6 Marquette Big East At-large 11–6–4 Portland West Coast At-large 14–3–3 Purdue Big Ten At-large 14–5–3 1 Texas Big 12 Automatic 17–3–2 2 UCLA Pac-10 Automatic 17–3 UNLV Mountain West Automatic 09–10–3 4 Utah Mountain West At-large 15–4–1
valign=top	Santa Clara Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record Auburn SEC At-large 11–5–3 California Pac-10 At-large 11–4–5 Clemson ACC At-large 11–7–2 Drake Missouri Valley Automatic 12–5–2 2 Florida State ACC At-large 14–3–4 3 Illinois Big Ten At-large 14–7 Jacksonville Atlantic Sun Automatic 11–9–1 Nevada WAC Automatic 13–4–4 4 Oklahoma State Big 12 At-large 16–3–2 Saint Louis Atlantic 10 Automatic 14–3–2 1 Santa Clara West Coast Automatic 15–4–1 Southeast Missouri State Ohio Valley Automatic 10–7–2 Stanford Pac-10 At-large 13–6–1 UNC-Greensboro Southern Automatic 13–7–2 USC Pac-10 At-large 10–4–5 Vanderbilt SEC At-large 10–4–6	valign=top	Notre Dame Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record Boston College ACC At-large 11–6–2 Boston U. America East At-large 13–4–3 4 Colorado Big 12 At-large 12–5–4 Colorado College Conference USA At-large 15–5–1 Denver Sun Belt Automatic 18–2–1 Hartford America East Automatic 10–8–2 Kentucky SEC Automatic 14–6–3 Michigan Big Ten At-large 09–7–5 Milwaukee Horizon At-large 16–3–1 Niagara MAAC Automatic 12–6–1 1 Notre Dame Big East Automatic 20–0–1 Oakland Mid-Continent Automatic 08–10–1 2 Penn State Big Ten Automatic 15–4–3 3 Rutgers Big East At-large 15–3–3 Toledo MAC Automatic 09–8–4 Villanova Big East At-large 15–3–2

Format

Just as before, the final two rounds, deemed the Women's College Cup, were played at a pre-determined neutral site. All other rounds were played on campus sites at the home field of the higher-seeded team. The only exceptions were the first two rounds, which were played at regional campus sites. The top sixteen teams hosted four team-regionals on their home fields (with some exceptions, noted below) during the tournament's first weekend.

Bracket

College Cup

All-tournament team

• Robyn Gayle, North Carolina (most outstanding defensive player)
• Heather O'Reilly, North Carolina (most outstanding offensive player)
• Kelly Rowland, Florida State
• India Trotter, Florida State
• Brittany Bock, Notre Dame
• Kerri Hanks, Notre Dame
• Jill Krivacek, Notre Dame
• Yael Averbuch, North Carolina
• Tobin Heath, North Carolina
• Casey Nogueira, North Carolina
• Kristi Eveland, North Carolina

See also

• NCAA Women's Soccer Championships (Division II, Division III)
• NCAA Men's Soccer Championships (Division I, Division II, Division III)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Division I Women's Soccer Championship Results . NCAA. NCAA.org. July 15, 2015.
2. Web site: 2006 Division I Tournament. Soccer Times. SoccerTimes.com. July 15, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160710120308/http://www.soccertimes.com/ncaa/2006/womenscores.htm. July 10, 2016. dead.
3. Web site: 2006 Division I Women's Tournament Statistics . NCAA. July 15, 2015.