NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament

Last updated

Women's Division I Soccer Championship
NCAA logo.svg
Organizer(s) NCAA
Founded1982;43 years ago (1982)
Teams64
Current champion Florida State (5th title)
Most championships North Carolina
(22 titles)
Broadcaster(s) ESPNU
ESPN+ [1]
Website ncaa.com/soccer
Soccerball current event.svg 2025 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament

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.

Contents

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. Widely known as one of the most successful collegiate programs in any NCAA sport, the Tar Heels have won 22 national championships, out of the 43 NCAA tournaments contested. They also won the only AIAW national championship in soccer (1981). The Tar Heels have reached the College Cup 30 times. Former head coach Anson Dorrance (1979-2024) led North Carolina to all 22 of their titles (21 NCAA and 1 AIAW) and is considered one of the greatest soccer coaches in NCAA history.

Only seven other schools have won multiple titles: Florida State (5 titles, 3-time runner-up and 13 College Cup appearances), Notre Dame (3 titles, 5-time runner-up and 12 College Cup appearances), Stanford (3 titles, 2-time runner-up and 10 College Cup appearances), UCLA (2 titles, 4-time runner-up and 12 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

Ed.YearTeam ChampionshipHost cityStadiumThird Place FinalAtt.
ChampionScoreRunner-upChampionScoreRunner-up
1 1982 North Carolina (1)
1–0
Central Florida Orlando UCF Knights Connecticut
2–1
UMSL 1,000
2 1983 North Carolina (2)
4–0
George Mason Orlando UCF Knights Massachusetts
1–0
Connecticut 700
3 1984 North Carolina (3)
2–0
Connecticut Chapel Hill Fetzer Field Massachusetts
4–1
California 3,500
4 1985 George Mason (1)
2–0
North Carolina Fairfax George Mason Stadium Colorado College, Massachusetts 4,500
5 1986 North Carolina (4)
2–0
Colorado College Fairfax George Mason Stadium George Mason, Massachusetts 1,000
6 1987 North Carolina (5)
1–0
Massachusetts Hadley Warren McGuirk Stadium California, UCF 3,651
7 1988 North Carolina (6)
4–1
NC State Chapel Hill Fetzer Field California, Wisconsin 3,500
8 1989 North Carolina (7)
2–0
Colorado College Raleigh Method Road NC State, Santa Clara 1,625
9 1990 North Carolina (8)
6–0
Connecticut Chapel Hill Fetzer Field Colorado College, Santa Clara 3,200
10 1991 North Carolina (9)
3–1
Wisconsin Chapel Hill Fetzer Field Colorado College, Virginia 3,800
11 1992 North Carolina (10)
9–1
Duke Chapel Hill Fetzer Field Hartford, Santa Clara 3,573
12 1993 North Carolina (11)
6–0
George Mason Chapel Hill Fetzer Field Massachusetts, Stanford 5,721
13 1994 North Carolina (12)
5–0
Notre Dame Portland Merlo Field Connecticut, Portland 5,000
14 1995 Notre Dame (1)
1–0 (a.e.t.)
Portland Chapel Hill Fetzer Field North Carolina, SMU 6,926
15 1996 North Carolina (13)
1–0 (a.e.t.)
Notre Dame Santa Clara Buck Shaw Stadium Portland, Santa Clara 8,800
16 1997 North Carolina (14)
2–0
Connecticut Greensboro UNCG Soccer Stadium Notre Dame, Santa Clara 3,200
17 1998 Florida (1)
1–0
North Carolina Greensboro UNCG Soccer Stadium Portland, Santa Clara 10,583
18 1999 North Carolina (15)
2–0
Notre Dame San Jose Spartan Stadium Penn State, Santa Clara 14,410
19 2000 North Carolina (16)
2–1
UCLA San Jose Spartan Stadium Notre Dame, Portland 9,566
20 2001 Santa Clara (1)
1–0
North Carolina University Park Gerald J. Ford Stadium Florida, Portland 7,090
21 2002 Portland (1)
2–1 (a.e.t.)
Santa Clara Austin Mike A. Myers Stadium North Carolina, Penn State 10,027
22 2003 North Carolina (17)
6–0
Connecticut Cary SAS Soccer Park Florida State, UCLA 10,042
23 2004 Notre Dame (2)1–1 (4–3 p) UCLA Cary SAS Soccer Park Princeton, Santa Clara 7,644
24 2005 Portland (2)
4–0
UCLA College Station Aggie Soccer Stadium Florida State, Penn State 6,578
25 2006 North Carolina (18)
2–1
Notre Dame Cary SAS Soccer Park Florida State, UCLA 8,349
26 2007 USC (1)
2–0
Florida State College Station Aggie Soccer Stadium Notre Dame, UCLA 8,255
27 2008 North Carolina (19)
2–1
Notre Dame Cary WakeMed Soccer Park Stanford, UCLA 9,055
28 2009 North Carolina (20)
1–0
Stanford College Station Aggie Soccer Stadium Notre Dame, UCLA 8,536
29 2010 Notre Dame (3)
1–0
Stanford Cary WakeMed Soccer Park Boston College, Ohio State 7,833
30 2011 Stanford (1)
1–0
Duke Kennesaw Fifth Third Bank Stadium Florida State, Wake Forest 9,241
31 2012 North Carolina (21)
4–1
Penn State San Diego Torero Stadium Florida State, Stanford 7,289
32 2013 UCLA (1)
1–0 (a.e.t.)
Florida State Cary WakeMed Soccer Park Virginia, Virginia Tech 8,806*
33 2014 Florida State (1)
1–0
Virginia Boca Raton FAU Stadium Stanford, Texas A&M 4,137
34 2015 Penn State (1)
1–0
Duke Cary WakeMed Soccer Park Florida State, Rutgers 10,676
35 2016 USC (2)
3–1
West Virginia San Jose Avaya Stadium Georgetown, North Carolina 6,612
36 2017 Stanford (2)
3–2
UCLA Orlando Orlando City Stadium South Carolina, Duke 1,938
37 2018 Florida State (2) North Carolina Cary WakeMed Soccer Park Stanford, Georgetown 12,512
38 2019 Stanford (3)
0–0 (5–4 p)
North Carolina San Jose Avaya Stadium UCLA, Washington State 9,591 [n 1]
39 2020 Santa Clara (2)
1–1 (4–1 p)
Florida State Cary WakeMed Soccer Park North Carolina, Virginia 5000
40 2021 Florida State (3)
0-0 (4–3 p)
BYU Santa Clara Stevens Stadium Santa Clara, Rutgers 7,087
41 2022 UCLA (2) North Carolina Cary WakeMed Soccer Park Florida State, Alabama 9,531
42 2023 Florida State (4) Stanford Cary WakeMed Soccer Park BYU, Clemson 3,954
43 2024 North Carolina (22) Wake Forest Cary WakeMed Soccer Park Duke, Stanford 9,475
44 2025 Florida State (5) Stanford Kansas City, MO CPKC Stadium TCU, Duke 3,311
45 2026 Cary WakeMed Soccer Park
46 2027 Cary WakeMed Soccer Park
Notes
  1. The reported attendance for 2013 is the number of tickets sold for the match. Actual game attendance was less than 3,000. [2]

Team titles

Usa edcp relief location map.png
ButtonBlue.svg
North Carolina
ButtonBlack.svg
Florida State
ButtonRed.svg
Stanford
ButtonRed.svg
Notre
Dame
ButtonYellow.svg
Santa Clara
ButtonYellow.svg
USC
ButtonYellow.svg
Portland
ButtonWhite.svg
Penn State
ButtonYellow.svg
UCLA
ButtonWhite.svg
Florida
ButtonWhite.svg
George Mason
National Championships by school: ButtonBlue.svg 22, ButtonBlack.svg 5, ButtonRed.svg 3, ButtonYellow.svg 2, ButtonWhite.svg 1
TeamTitlesYears won
North Carolina 22 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2024
Florida State 5
2014, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2025
Stanford 3
2011, 2017, 2019
Notre Dame 3
1995, 2004, 2010
Santa Clara 2
2001, 2020
USC 2
2007, 2016
Portland 2
2002, 2005
UCLA 2
2013, 2022
Penn State 1
2015
Florida 1
1998
George Mason 1
1985

Performance by team

Starting in 2001, the NCAA started seeing the top 2 teams in each region. This expanded to the top 4 teams in each region in 2003, and the top 8 teams in each region in 2022. The teams' seeds are shown in superscript next to the result.

SchoolConference
(as of 2025)
#16QFSFCGCH 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 24 25

ACC 444235322822CHCHCHRUCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHSFCHCHRUCHCH¹RU¹SF¹CH¹16¹QF¹CH¹16¹CH¹CH¹16³16²CH¹QF²16³32²SF¹16¹RU¹RU¹SF²✖²RU³QF²CH16
ACC 2622191585163216³SF²SF²SF³RU²QF¹QF²QF¹SF¹SF¹RU¹CH¹SF³32⁴16¹CH¹QF¹RU¹CH¹SF¹CH¹32³CH
ACC 312317128316RUCHRUSFQFRUSF²3216¹32¹CH²QF¹RU⁴SF¹RU²SF⁴CHQF16⁴16³32²✖1632³16¹QF³32⁴QF¹32
Stanford   
ACC 342418137312QFQFSFQF24321632²16¹QF3216¹16¹SF¹RU¹RU¹CH¹SF16¹SF¹QF¹32¹CH¹SF¹CH³32²RU³SF¹RU
UCLA   
Big Ten 292217126224QF3216RU¹QF²16¹SF⁴RU¹RU²SF¹SF¹SF¹SF16²32³QF²CH¹QF⁴16²RU²QF²SF¹16²✖¹CH¹✖²32⁴32
West Coast 3423171232SFSF12SF1624QFSFSFSFSFQF¹CH²RU³QF⁴SF²QF¹✖⁴163232⁴16⁴32QF16³3216³CHSF⁸32⁷3232
Portland   
West Coast 22161483212QFSFRUSF32SFSF¹SF²CH²16²QF¹CHQF²QF²QF²QF¹3232⁴32³32⁸32
USC   
Big Ten 2374222323232323232²CH⁴1632⁴16²CH³32⁴16²QF²32³32⁴✖⁸32¹QF
Atlantic 10 1110543112RU14CHSFQF12RU163216
Big Ten 312215521241632QFSFQFQFSF²QF¹32¹SF²QF¹16⁴3232⁴16¹RU⁴32²QF¹CH32³QFQF⁴161616²16²QF⁴QF⁸32
Florida   
SEC 22136211QF16CH3232²SF¹QF³✖³16³16²16³32²32²32²16²32²QF²16¹16³QF
UConn   
Big East 32251874-SFSFRU14QFQF1212RUQF12QFSFQFQFRUQFQFQF²16¹QFRU16³✖32QF3232163232
Duke   
ACC 30211563-RU16QF161632323232³3216³3232QF³QF16¹RU³QFQF³RU³QF¹SF⁴1632³QF¹QF²QF¹SF²SF
Mountain West 118752-QFSFRU12QFRUSFSF
UMass   
Atlantic 10 15141061-QFSFSFSFSFRUQFQF12QFSF16161632
Virginia   
ACC 37301141-121212QFSFQF24163216321616QF16²32¹32²QF16⁴16²1616²16²QF²16¹SF²RU¹QF³16³16³16¹32SF¹16³QF⁴32¹16
NC State   
ACC 1713821-QFQFQFRUSFQFQF1216QF321632161632⁸✖
BYU   
Big 12 2610521-3216321632QF⁴✖3232¹QF3232⁴16²QF³32⁴RU⁶16¹SF⁷✖⁵16
UCF   
Big 12 237521-RUQFSFQF1232323232³32⁴32QF32³✖16²✖32⁷32
Wisconsin   
Big Ten 2613421-14SF12QFRUQF241616323232321632⁴32323216³1616⁴32⁵16⁴32
ACC 247321-1632163232³32⁴32³32³QF⁴32¹SF³3216321632²RU⁷32
Big 12 247311-²32²163232⁴QF3232³1632³✖²QF¹RU²16²3216²32⁷32⁷32
ACC 28753--QFSFQFSFSF163232³16323232323232³✖32
Big East 16532--QF323232²SF¹SF⁴16³32⁵32³32⁶32²16
Rutgers   
Big Ten 19522--121632³3216323232²SF3232⁴✖32¹SF⁵✖⁶✖
Texas A&M   
SEC 281671--163232321616QFQF16³32⁴16²QF²32³QF16⁴32³3216⁴16¹SFQF32²32³1632²QF⁸32
Clemson   
ACC 25961--242432QF16QFQF16QF32²32³163232⁴QF⁵✖¹SF⁸32
ACC 191351--12QF14QF16⁴✖161616³16²QF²SF⁴1632QF⁴✖
Hartford   
D3 13851--QF12QFSFQF241616QF32
SEC 19751--²163232³32³QF¹QF¹SF³32²QF32QF³16⁷32³32
Big Ten 19631--32²QF³SF16⁴✖1632⁴✖32⁶32³16QF
Princeton   
Ivy League 16431--QF1232²SF3232⁴QF32⁷32
ACC 14621--³1616¹SF16⁴321632⁷QF
TCU   
Big 12 9421--32¹QF⁴16⁵16⁵32²SF
SMU   
ACC 14611--121216SF16163232323232
West Coast 14311--1632321632SF32
UMSL   
D2 2211--SF12
Alabama   
SEC 7111--32¹SF⁶32⁸32
CAA 25135---141412QF12QF12QF16QF2432QF16163232323232
Big West 1075---14QFQFQFQFQF12
Nebraska   
Big Ten 1393---QF1616QF161616321632²3232⁵QF
Big Ten 1883---1616321632⁴QF3232QF⁴16⁴321632⁴QF
Michigan   
Big Ten 1663---3232323232QF16⁴16³QF16²QF
Harvard   
Ivy League 1943---QFQF2432QF3232163232⁶32⁴32
Cortland   
D2 443---QFQF14QF
Brown   
Ivy League 1062---12QFQF1412163232³32
Maryland   
Big Ten 1352---QFQF3232323216⁴16¹321632
Arkansas   
SEC 1252---16323232³32²16²QF³QF²32²16⁵32
Baylor   
Big 12 742---3232³16QF²QF⁵16
Big 12 1432---⁴3232⁴3232³QF²QF32³32³16
Tennessee   
SEC 1771---16⁴16³1632⁴16³16⁴✖32²QF³16⁶✖32³✖
SEC 1451---16161632323232⁴3232⁸16¹QF
Illinois   
Big Ten 1341---32⁴✖QF32³163216323216
Dartmouth   
Ivy League 1141---162432QF321616
Big Ten 831---3232⁴32⁵16⁵16²QF
Auburn   
SEC 1821---32323232³323232⁴16⁴QF32⁴✖⁶32
ACC 221---⁴16⁷QF
Big West 711---QF
FIU   
CUSA 311---QF
Texas   
SEC 185----³16¹16163232⁴16⁴✖⁷32⁵16⁴32
West Coast 154----32¹1632⁴16³✖⁴163232⁴16⁷✖
Minnesota   
Big Ten 124----2432163232161632⁴✖32⁶16
Colorado   
Big 12 153----³✖3232⁴1632⁴✖163232323232³16
Sun Belt 133----161632323232321632
Marquette   
Big East 133----3232⁴1632³1632⁴16²✖
Kansas   
Big 12 113----⁴16²32323232³16³16
Big Ten 83----3216321632⁴16
Big 12 73----121224321632
UC Irvine   
Big West 53----16321616
San Diego   
West Coast 132----1632323216
Georgia   
SEC 132----32163232³323232⁷32⁴16⁷✖⁸✖
Memphis   
American 132----⁴323216⁶16⁷32
Ole Miss   
SEC 102----3232163216
Big 12 102----3232³163232⁴32²16⁸32⁶32
Mountain West 72----1632²16
Arizona   
Big 12 72----⁴✖163216323232
SEC 52----⁷32⁶16¹16⁶✖
West Coast 32----121632
D2 22----1412
Kentucky   
SEC 131----2432323232³16⁵32
Denver   
Summit 121----3216⁴✖32
SoCon 111----3216323232
Dayton   
Atlantic 10 111----32163232
LSU   
SEC 111----32⁴3232⁸32⁴16
Radford   
Big South 101----14
Big West 91----³1632
Atlantic 10 91----3232⁴3232²✖⁶16⁸32
Utah   
Big 12 81----32⁴3216
American 81----3232321632
Purdue   
Big Ten 71----3216²3232
ACC 71----1632⁶32
Villanova   
Big East 61----32163232
Iowa   
Big Ten 61----32⁵32³16⁵32
Indiana   
Big Ten 51----32321632
Rice   
American 51----16
West Coast 41----241632
Big East 41----3216
Big East 31----16
Yale   
Ivy League 31----3216
West Coast 31----16
Vermont   
America East 21----14
Richmond   
Atlantic 10 21----3216
Rochester   
D3 11----12
D3 11----12
Barry   
D2 11----12
Milwaukee   
Horizon 19-----323232323232
Patriot 15-----3232323232
Northeast 12-----3232
Big 12 10-----3232323232
Hofstra   
CAA 10-----323232323232
Liberty   
CUSA 9-----
Samford   
SoCon 9-----3232
Furman   
SoCon 8-----
Oakland   
Horizon 8-----32
Big South 8-----
Monmouth   
CAA 8-----
Summit 8-----32
ASUN 8-----32
Sun Belt 8-----3232
Xavier   
Big East 7-----3232⁴✖⁶32
Montana   
Big Sky 7-----32
Missouri   
SEC 7-----3232⁴3232
Patriot 7-----
Bucknell   
Patriot 7-----
Missouri Valley 7-----323232
Atlantic 10 7-----
American 7-----
Colgate   
Patriot 6-----3232
Fairfield   
MAAC 6-----32
Cal Poly   
Big West 6-----32
MAC 6-----
Charlotte   
American 5-----3232
Missouri Valley 5-----
Sun Belt 5-----
Big Sky 5-----32
ACC 5-----32
Creighton   
Big East 5-----
MAC 5-----3232
Navy   
Patriot 5-----32
Toledo   
MAC 5-----
Ohio Valley 5-----
La Salle   
Atlantic 10 5-----
Mountain West 5-----⁸✖
CAA 5-----
Seattle   
WAC 5-----32
Ohio Valley 5-----32
WAC 5-----32
Lipscomb   
ASUN 5-----3232
Mountain West 4-----
LIU   
Northeast 4-----
Penn   
Ivy League 4-----
Missouri Valley 4-----
MAC 4-----323232
Mountain West 4-----
Ohio Valley 4-----
Southland 4-----
Oklahoma   
SEC 4-----32
UNLV   
Mountain West 4-----
Sun Belt 4-----
CAA 4-----3232
Big Sky 4-----
Missouri Valley 4-----
Southland 4-----
Northeast 4-----
Mountain West 4-----32
Horizon 3-----
Elon   
CAA 3-----
ASUN 3-----
MAAC 3-----
Southland 3-----
DePaul   
Big East 3-----
Big Sky 3-----32
Missouri Valley 3-----
SoCon 3-----
SWAC 3-----
SWAC 3-----
Big Sky 3-----
Army   
Patriot 3-----
MAC 3-----32
SWAC 3-----
Siena   
MAAC 3-----
UTSA   
American 3-----
SWAC 3-----
Southland 3-----
Albany   
America East 3-----
Butler   
Big East 3-----
Howard   
MEAC 3-----
SWAC 3-----
Lamar   
Southland 3-----
Maine   
America East 3-----
Syracuse   
ACC 2-----3232
Northeast 2-----
UAB   
American 2-----32
Campbell   
CAA 2-----
VCU   
Atlantic 10 2-----32
Gonzaga   
West Coast 2-----⁸32
Ohio Valley 2-----
Columbia   
Ivy League 2-----⁸32
CUSA 2-----
Belmont   
Missouri Valley 2-----
Mountain West 2-----
IU Indy   
Horizon 2-----
SWAC 2-----
CAA 2-----32
Mercer   
SoCon 2-----
UT Martin   
Ohio Valley 2-----
Buffalo   
MAC 2-----
America East 2-----
Northeast 2-----
Big Sky 2-----
Big Sky 2-----
WAC 2-----
WAC 2-----
Atlantic 10 1-----32
Pacific   
West Coast 1-----32
MAC 1-----
Patriot 1-----
Atlantic 10 1-----32
American   
Patriot 1-----
Horizon 1-----32
Summit 1-----
America East 1-----
defunct1-----
UTEP   
CUSA 1-----32
American 1-----
Big 12 1-----
Big West 1-----
Drake   
Missouri Valley 1-----
McNeese   
Southland 1-----
Big South 1-----
Nevada   
Mountain West 1-----
Niagara   
MAAC 1-----
SWAC 1-----
Hawaii   
Big West 1-----
Davidson   
Atlantic 10 1-----
Lehigh   
Patriot 1-----
CUSA 1-----
Summit 1-----
Marist   
MAAC 1-----
Big West 1-----
Sun Belt 1-----
UMBC   
America East 1-----
Rider   
MAAC 1-----
Duquesne   
Atlantic 10 1-----
MAC 1-----
Horizon 1-----
WAC 1-----
Ohio Valley 1-----
CUSA 1-----
Omaha   
Summit 1-----
Idaho   
Big Sky 1-----
Ohio   
MAC 1-----
Towson   
CAA 1-----
American 1-----
Southern   
SWAC 1-----
Big South 1-----
Ohio Valley 1-----
UIC   
Missouri Valley 1-----
Wagner   
Northeast 1-----

See also

References

  1. Elchlepp, Kimberly (November 10, 2022). "ESPN Platforms Present Full NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship for First Time". ESPN.
  2. "College Cup: Stanford extended to a shootout before winning title". December 9, 2019.