NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament explained

Women's Division I Soccer Championship
Number Of Teams:	64
Current Champions:	FSU (4th title)
Most Successful Team:	North Carolina (22 titles)
Broadcasters:	ESPNU ESPN+^[1]
Current:	2023 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament
American:	yes

The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's national champion.

History

The NCAA began conducting a single division Women's Soccer Championship tournament in 1982 with a 12-team tournament. The tournament became the Division I Championship in 1986, when Division III was created for non-scholarship programs. Currently, the tournament field consists of 64 teams. The semifinals and final of the tournament, held at a single site every year, are collectively known as the Women's College Cup (analogous to the College Cup in men's soccer).

Historically, North Carolina has been the dominant school in Division I women's soccer. Known widely as one of the most successful collegiate programs in any NCAA sport, the Tar Heels have won 22 national championships of the 31 NCAA tournaments contested. They also won the only AIAW national championship in soccer in 1981. The Tar Heels have reached the College Cup 30 times. Head coach Anson Dorrance is considered one of the greatest women's soccer coaches in NCAA history, leading the Tar Heels since the inception of the program in 1979.

Only six other schools have multiple titles, Notre Dame (3 titles, 5-times runner-up and 12 College Cup appearances), Florida State (4 titles, 3-time runner-up and 12 college cup appearances), Stanford (3 titles, 2-times runner-up and 10 College Cup appearances), Santa Clara (2 titles, 1-time runner up and 11 College Cup appearances), Portland (2 titles, 1-time runner-up and 8 College Cup appearances), and USC (2 titles, 2 College Cup appearances).

Champions

NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship
Ed.	Year		Team Championship				Host city	Stadium	Third Place Final				Att.
		width=	Champion	width=	Score	width=			Runner-up	width=	Champion			width=	Score	width=	Runner-up
1	1982	North Carolina		Central Florida		UCF Knights	Connecticut		UMSL	1,000
2		North Carolina		George Mason	Orlando	UCF Knights	Massachusetts		Connecticut	700
3		North Carolina		Connecticut	Chapel Hill	Fetzer Field	Massachusetts		California	3,500
4		George Mason		North Carolina	Fairfax	George Mason Stadium	Colorado College, Massachusetts			4,500
5	1986	North Carolina			Fairfax	George Mason Stadium	George Mason, Massachusetts			1,000
6	1987	North Carolina		Massachusetts		Warren McGuirk Stadium	California, UCF			3,651
7		North Carolina		NC State	Chapel Hill	Fetzer Field				3,500
8		North Carolina			Raleigh	Method Road	NC State, Santa Clara			1,625
9		North Carolina		Connecticut	Chapel Hill	Fetzer Field	Colorado College, Santa Clara			3,200
10		North Carolina			Chapel Hill	Fetzer Field	Colorado College, Virginia			3,800
11		North Carolina		Duke	Chapel Hill	Fetzer Field	Hartford, Santa Clara			3,573
12		North Carolina		George Mason	Chapel Hill	Fetzer Field	Massachusetts, Stanford			5,721
13		North Carolina		Notre Dame	Portland	Merlo Field	Connecticut, Portland			5,000
14		Notre Dame		Portland	Chapel Hill	Fetzer Field	North Carolina, SMU			6,926
15		North Carolina		Notre Dame	Santa Clara	Buck Shaw Stadium	Portland, Santa Clara			8,800
16	1997	North Carolina		Connecticut		UNCG Soccer Stadium	Notre Dame, Santa Clara			3,200
17	1998	Florida		North Carolina		UNCG Soccer Stadium	Portland, Santa Clara			10,583
18		North Carolina		Notre Dame	San Jose	Spartan Stadium	Penn State, Santa Clara			14,410
19	2000	North Carolina		UCLA	San Jose	Spartan Stadium	Notre Dame, Portland			9,566
20	2001	Santa Clara		North Carolina	University Park	Gerald J. Ford Stadium	Florida, Portland			7,090
21	2002	Portland		Santa Clara	Austin	Mike A. Myers Stadium	North Carolina, Penn State			10,027
22	2003	North Carolina		Connecticut	Cary	SAS Soccer Park	Florida State, UCLA			10,042
23	2004	Notre Dame	1–1	UCLA	Cary	SAS Soccer Park	Princeton, Santa Clara			7,644
24		Portland		UCLA	College Station	Aggie Soccer Stadium	Florida State, Penn State			6,578
25	2006	North Carolina		Notre Dame	Cary	SAS Soccer Park	Florida State, UCLA			8,349
26		USC		Florida State	College Station	Aggie Soccer Stadium	Notre Dame, UCLA			8,255
27		North Carolina		Notre Dame	Cary	WakeMed Soccer Park	Stanford, UCLA			9,055
28		North Carolina		Stanford	College Station	Aggie Soccer Stadium	Notre Dame, UCLA			8,536
29		Notre Dame		Stanford	Cary	WakeMed Soccer Park	Boston College, Ohio State			7,833
30		Stanford		Duke	Kennesaw	Fifth Third Bank Stadium	Florida State, Wake Forest			9,241
31		North Carolina		Penn State		Torero Stadium	Florida State, Stanford			7,289
32		UCLA		Florida State	Cary	WakeMed Soccer Park	Virginia, Virginia Tech			8,806*
33	2014	Florida State		Virginia		FAU Stadium	Stanford, Texas A&M			4,137
34		Penn State		Duke	Cary	WakeMed Soccer Park	Florida State, Rutgers			10,676
35		USC		West Virginia	San Jose	Avaya Stadium	Georgetown, North Carolina			6,612
36		Stanford		UCLA	Orlando	Orlando City Stadium	South Carolina, Duke			1,938
37		Florida State		North Carolina	Cary	WakeMed Soccer Park				12,512
38		Stanford		North Carolina	San Jose	Avaya Stadium	UCLA, Washington State			9,591
39	2020	Santa Clara (2)		Florida State	Cary	WakeMed Soccer Park	North Carolina, Virginia			5000
40	2021	Florida State		BYU	Santa Clara	Stevens Stadium	Santa Clara, Rutgers			7,087
41	2022	UCLA		North Carolina	Cary	WakeMed Soccer Park	Florida State, Alabama			9,531
42	2023	Florida State		Stanford	Cary	WakeMed Soccer Park	BYU, Clemson			3,954

Notes

Team titles

width=100px	Team	Titles	Years won
style=		21	1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012
style=		4
style=		3
style=		3
style=		2
style=		2
style=		2
style=		2
style=		1
style=		1
style=		1

Performance by team

• First round
• Round of 24 (1993 - 1994); Round of 32 (1995 - present)
• Round of 12 (1982 - 1992); Round of 16 (1993 - present)
• Quarterfinals
• Semifinals
• National Runner-up
• National Champion

In 2001 and 2002, the top 8 teams were seeded 1 through 8. The top 4 teams are shown with, and next 4 teams are shown with . Since 2003, the top 16 teams have been seeded, and the top 4 teams are shown with, and next 12 teams are shown with .

	SF	CH	School	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
42	31	21	North Carolina
24	14	4	Florida State
32	11	3	Stanford
29	12	3	Notre Dame
33	12	2	Santa Clara
27	12	2	UCLA
22	8	2	Portland
22	2	2	USC
29	5	1	Penn State
11	4	1	George Mason
22	2	1	Florida
31	7	-	Connecticut
15	6	-	Massachusetts
11	5	-	Colorado College
35	4	-	Virginia
28	4	-	Duke
27	3	-	California
23	2	-	Wisconsin
22	2	-	UCF
18	2	-	Rutgers
17	2	-	NC State
14	2	-	Georgetown
28	1	-	Texas A&M
24	1	-	BYU
23	1	-	Clemson
22	1	-	Wake Forest
22	1	-	West Virginia
19	1	-	Boston College
17	1	-	South Carolina
17	1	-	Ohio State
15	1	-	Princeton
14	1	-	SMU
14	1	-	Washington State
13	1	-	Hartford
13	1	-	Virginia Tech
6	1	-	Alabama
2	1	-	Missouri St. Louis
23	-	-	William & Mary
19	-	-	Harvard
17	-	-	Milwaukee
17	-	-	Auburn
17	-	-	Texas
16	-	-	Washington
16	-	-	Michigan
15	-	-	Tennessee
14	-	-	Boston University
13	-	-	Maryland
13	-	-	Nebraska
13	-	-	San Diego
13	-	-	Central Connecticut
13	-	-	Marquette
13	-	-	Pepperdine
13	-	-	Colorado
13	-	-	Oklahoma State
12	-	-	Vanderbilt
12	-	-	James Madison
12	-	-	Illinois
12	-	-	Denver
12	-	-	Memphis
11	-	-	Minnesota
11	-	-	Kentucky
11	-	-	UNC Greensboro
11	-	-	Georgia
10	-	-	Brown
10	-	-	Radford
10	-	-	Dartmouth
10	-	-	Dayton
10	-	-	Arizona State
10	-	-	Ole Miss
10	-	-	Hofstra
10	-	-	Arkansas
9	-	-	UC Santa Barbara
9	-	-	South Alabama
9	-	-	Kansas
9	-	-	Cal State Fullerton
9	-	-	LSU
8	-	-	Furman
8	-	-	Liberty
8	-	-	Oakland
8	-	-	Utah
8	-	-	Saint Louis
8	-	-	Monmouth
8	-	-	South Florida
8	-	-	Florida Gulf Coast
8	-	-	Texas Tech
7	-	-	Cincinnati
7	-	-	Northwestern
7	-	-	San Diego State
7	-	-	Missouri
7	-	-	Bucknell
7	-	-	Loyola (MD)
7	-	-	Purdue
7	-	-	High Point
7	-	-	Illinois State
7	-	-	North Texas
7	-	-	Arizona
7	-	-	Samford
7	-	-	Long Beach State
7	-	-	South Dakota State
7	-	-	TCU
6	-	-	Colgate
6	-	-	Baylor
6	-	-	Xavier
6	-	-	Montana
6	-	-	Villanova
6	-	-	Michigan State
6	-	-	Loyola (IL)
6	-	-	Bowling Green
6	-	-	Louisville
5	-	-	Indiana
5	-	-	Fairfield
5	-	-	Charlotte
5	-	-	Evansville
5	-	-	Cal Poly
5	-	-	Idaho State
5	-	-	Miami (FL)
5	-	-	Creighton
5	-	-	Navy
5	-	-	Rice
5	-	-	Toledo
5	-	-	UC Irvine
5	-	-	La Salle
5	-	-	Seattle
5	-	-	SIU Edwardsville
4	-	-	Cortland State
4	-	-	Oregon State
4	-	-	Penn
4	-	-	Fresno State
4	-	-	Long Island
4	-	-	Miami (OH)
4	-	-	Morehead State
4	-	-	San Jose State
4	-	-	Eastern Illinois
4	-	-	Texas State
4	-	-	Oklahoma
4	-	-	UNLV
4	-	-	Old Dominion
4	-	-	Northern Arizona
4	-	-	Northeastern
4	-	-	SE Louisiana
4	-	-	St. John's
4	-	-	Murray State
4	-	-	New Mexico
4	-	-	Saint Francis (PA)
4	-	-	Stony Brook
4	-	-	Iowa
4	-	-	Utah Valley
3	-	-	St. Mary's
3	-	-	Providence
3	-	-	Wright State
3	-	-	Jacksonville
3	-	-	Missouri State
3	-	-	Quinnipiac
3	-	-	Yale
3	-	-	Northwestern State
3	-	-	Loyola Marymount
3	-	-	Western Michigan
3	-	-	Stephen F. Austin
3	-	-	DePaul
3	-	-	Weber State
3	-	-	Mississippi Valley
3	-	-	Western Carolina
3	-	-	Valparaiso
3	-	-	Central Michigan
3	-	-	Jackson State
3	-	-	Siena
3	-	-	Utah State
3	-	-	Prairie View A&M
3	-	-	Albany
3	-	-	Butler
3	-	-	Alabama State
3	-	-	Lamar
3	-	-	Lipscomb
3	-	-	Mississippi State
2	-	-	Cal State Hayward
2	-	-	FIU
2	-	-	Syracuse
2	-	-	Elon
2	-	-	Richmond
2	-	-	UAB
2	-	-	VCU
2	-	-	Campbell
2	-	-	Gonzaga
2	-	-	SE Missouri State
2	-	-	Columbia
2	-	-	Grambling State
2	-	-	Kennesaw State
2	-	-	Sacramento State
2	-	-	Army
2	-	-	Belmont
2	-	-	Ark.-Pine Bluff
2	-	-	UNC Wilmington
2	-	-	IUPUI
2	-	-	Boise State
2	-	-	Mercer
2	-	-	UTSA
2	-	-	UT Martin
2	-	-	Houston Baptist
2	-	-	Buffalo
2	-	-	New Hampshire
2	-	-	Howard
2	-	-	Northern Colorado
2	-	-	Fairleigh Dickinson
2	-	-	Eastern Washington
2	-	-	Grand Canyon
2	-	-	Pittsburgh
1	-	-	Rochester (NY)
1	-	-	Keene State
1	-	-	Barry
1	-	-	George Washington
1	-	-	Georgia State
1	-	-	Pacific
1	-	-	Eastern Michigan
1	-	-	Holy Cross
1	-	-	Sacred Heart
1	-	-	Rhode Island
1	-	-	American
1	-	-	Detroit
1	-	-	Binghamton
1	-	-	B'ham Southern
1	-	-	Oral Roberts
1	-	-	UTEP
1	-	-	Florida Atlantic
1	-	-	Iowa State
1	-	-	UC Riverside
1	-	-	Drake
1	-	-	McNeese State
1	-	-	Nevada
1	-	-	Niagara
1	-	-	UNC Asheville
1	-	-	Alabama A&M
1	-	-	Hawaii
1	-	-	Davidson
1	-	-	Lehigh
1	-	-	Middle Tennessee
1	-	-	North Dakota State
1	-	-	Marist
1	-	-	Cal State Northridge
1	-	-	Georgia Southern
1	-	-	UMBC
1	-	-	Rider
1	-	-	Duquesne
1	-	-	Kent State
1	-	-	Northern Kentucky
1	-	-	Abilene Christian
1	-	-	Little Rock
1	-	-	Loyola Chicago
1	-	-	Vermont
1	-	-	New Mexico State
1	-	-	Omaha
1	-	-	Idaho
1	-	-	Maine
1	-	-	Towson
1	-	-	Ohio

See also

• AIAW Intercollegiate Women's Soccer Champions
• NCAA Women's Soccer Championships (Division II, Division III)
• NCAA Men's Soccer Championships (Division I, Division II, Division III)
• NAIA Women's Soccer Championship
• Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association
• NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship bids by school

Notes and References

1. Web site: ESPN Platforms Present Full NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship for First Time. Elchlepp. Kimberly. November 10, 2022. ESPN.