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 North Carolina (22nd 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: Notre Dame (3 titles, 5-time runner-up and 12 College Cup appearances), Florida State (4 titles, 3-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 Kansas City, MO CPKC Stadium
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
ButtonViolet.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, ButtonViolet.svg 4, 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 4
2014, 2018, 2021, 2023
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

In 2001 and 2002, the top 8 teams were seeded 1 through 8. The top 4 teams are shown with double underline, and next 4 teams are shown with dotted underline. From 2003 to 2024, the top 16 teams have been seeded, and the top 4 teams are shown with double underline, and next 12 teams are shown with dotted underline. Starting in 2025, the top 8 teams in each region were seeded. The 1 seeds are shown with double underline, seeds 2 through 4 are showin with underline, and seeds 5 through 8 are shown with dotted underline.

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

North Carolina ACC 444235322822CHCHCHRUCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHSFCHCHRUCHCHRUSFCH16QFCH16CHCH1616CHQF1632SF16RURUSFRUQFCH16
Florida State ACC 2622191574163216SFSFSFRUQFQFQFSFSFRUCHSF3216CHQFRUCHSFCH32SF
Notre Dame ACC 312317128316RUCHRUSFQFRUSF321632CHQFRUSFRUSFCHQF161632163216QF32QF32
Stanford ACC 342418136312QFQFSFQF2432163216QF321616SFRURUCHSF16SFQF32CHSFCH32RUSFSF
UCLA Big Ten 292217126224QF3216RUQF16SFRURUSFSFSFSF1632QFCHQF16RUQFSF16CH3232
Santa Clara West Coast 3423171232SFSF12SF1624QFSFSFSFSFQFCHRUQFSFQF1632321632QF163216CHSF323232
Portland West Coast 22161483212QFSFRUSF32SFSFSFCH16QFCHQFQFQFQF3232323232
USC Big Ten 2374222323232323232CH163216CH3216QF323232QF
George Mason Atlantic 10 1110543112RU12CHSFQF12RU163216
Penn State Big Ten 312215521241632QFSFQFQFSFQF32SFQF16323216RU32QFCH32QFQF16161616QFQF32
Florida SEC 22136211QF16CH3232SFQF1616163232321632QF1616QF
UConn Big East 32251874-SFSFRU12QFQF1212RUQF12QFSFQFQFRUQFQFQF16QFRU1632QF3232163232
Duke ACC 30211563-RU16QF16163232323232163232QFQF16RUQFQFRUQFSF1632QFQFQFSFSF
Colorado College Mountain West 118752-QFSFRU12QFRUSFSF
UMass MAC 15141061-QFSFSFSFSFRUQFQF12QFSF16161632
Virginia ACC 37301141-121212QFSFQF24163216321616QF163232QF1616161616QF16SFRUQF16161632SF16QF3216
NC State ACC 1713821-QFQFQFRUSFQFQF1216QF321632161632
UCF Big 12 237521-RUQFSFQF12323232323232QF32163232
Wisconsin Big Ten 2512421-SF12QFRUQF241616323232321632323232161616321632
Wake Forest ACC 247321-1632163232323232QF32SF3216321632RU32
BYU Big 12 269411-3216321632QF3232QF323216QF32RU16SF16
West Virginia Big 12 247311-32163232QF32321632QFRU163216323232
California ACC 28753--QFSFQFSFSF1632321632323232323232
Georgetown Big East 16532--QF323232SFSF163232323216
Rutgers Big Ten 19522--1216323216323232SF323232SF
Texas A&M SEC 281671--163232321616QFQF163216QF32QF1632321616SFQF32321632QF32
Clemson ACC 25961--242432QF16QFQF16QF3232163232QFSF32
Boston College ACC 191351--12QF12QF1616161616QFSF1632QF
Hartford Division III13851--QF12QFSFQF241616QF32
South Carolina SEC 19751--16323232QFQFSF32QF32QF163232
Ohio State Big Ten 19631--32QFSF161632323216QF
Princeton Ivy League 16431--QF1232SF3232QF3232
Virginia Tech ACC 14621--1616SF16321632QF
TCU Big 12 9421--32QF161632SF
SMU ACC 14611--121216SF16163232323232
Washington State West Coast 14311--1632321632SF32
Missouri–St. Louis Division II2211--SF12
Alabama SEC 7111--32SF3232
William & Mary CAA 23115---12QF12QF12QF16QF2432QF16163232323232
UC Santa Barbara Big West 1075---12QFQFQFQFQF12
Nebraska Big Ten 1393---QF1616QF1616163216323232QF
Washington Big Ten 1883---1616321632QF3232QF16321632QF
Michigan Big Ten 1663---3232323232QF1616QF16QF
Harvard Ivy League 1943---QFQF2432QF32321632323232
Cortland Division III443---QFQF12QF
Brown Ivy League 1062---12QFQF121216323232
Maryland Big Ten 1352---QFQF323232321616321632
Arkansas SEC 1252---163232323216QFQF321632
Baylor Big 12 742---323216QFQF16
Oklahoma State Big 12 1432---32323232QFQF323216
Tennessee SEC 1771---16161632161632QF1632
Vanderbilt SEC 1451---16161632323232323216QF
Illinois Big Ten 1341---32QF32163216323216
Dartmouth Ivy League 1141---162432QF321616
Michigan State Big Ten 831---3232321616QF
Auburn SEC 1821---3232323232323216QF3232
Pittsburgh ACC 221---16QF
Purdue Big Ten 711---32163232
Long Beach State Big West 711---QF
FIU CUSA 311---QF
Texas SEC 185----161616323216321632
Pepperdine West Coast 154----3216321616323216
Minnesota Big Ten 124----24321632321616323216
Colorado Big 12 153----3232163216323232323216
James Madison Sun Belt 133----161632323232321632
Marquette Big East 133----32321632163216
Kansas Big 12 113----16323232321616
Northwestern Big Ten 83----321632163216
Cincinnati Big 12 73----121224321632
UC Irvine Big West 53----16321616
San Diego West Coast 132----1632323216
Georgia SEC 132----321632323232323216
Memphis American 132----3232161632
Ole Miss SEC 102----3232163216
Texas Tech Big 12 102----323216323232163232
San Diego State Mountain West 72----163216
Arizona Big 12 72----163216323232
Mississippi State SEC 52----321616
Saint Mary's West Coast 32----121632
Cal State Hayward Division II22----1212
Kentucky SEC 131----24323232321632
Denver Summit 121----321632
UNC Greensboro SoCon 111----3216323232
Dayton Atlantic 10 111----32163232
LSU SEC 111----3232323216
Radford Big South 101----12
Cal State Fullerton Big West 91----1632
Saint Louis Atlantic 10 91----323232321632
Utah Big 12 81----323216
South Florida American 81----3232321632
Louisville ACC 71----163232
Villanova Big East 61----32163232
Iowa Big Ten 61----32321632
Indiana Big Ten 51----32321632
Rice American 51----16
Oregon State West Coast 41----241632
St. John's Big East 41----3216
Providence Big East 31----16
Yale Ivy League 31----3216
Richmond Atlantic 10 21----3216
Rochester Division III11----12
Keene State Division III11----12
Barry Division II11----12
Milwaukee Horizon 19-----323232323232
Boston University Patriot 15-----3232323232
Central Connecticut Northeast 13-----3232
Arizona State Big 12 10-----3232323232
Hofstra CAA 10-----323232323232
South Alabama Sun Belt 9-----3232
Liberty CUSA 9-----
Samford SoCon 9-----3232
South Dakota State Summit 9-----32
Furman SoCon 8-----
Oakland Horizon 8-----32
High Point Big South 8-----
Monmouth CAA 8-----
Florida Gulf Coast ASUN 8-----32
Xavier Big East 7-----323232
Missouri SEC 7-----32323232
Montana Big Sky 7-----32
Bucknell Patriot 7-----
Loyola (MD) Patriot 7-----
Illinois State Missouri Valley 7-----323232
Loyola Chicago Atlantic 10 7-----
North Texas American 7-----
Colgate Patriot 6-----3232
Fairfield MAAC 6-----32
Cal Poly Big West 6-----32
Bowling Green MAC 6-----
Charlotte American 5-----3232
Evansville Missouri Valley 5-----
Idaho State Big Sky 5-----32
Miami (FL) ACC 5-----32
Texas State Sun Belt 5-----
Creighton Big East 5-----
Navy Patriot 5-----32
Western Michigan MAC 5-----3232
Toledo MAC 5-----
Morehead State Ohio Valley 5-----
La Salle Atlantic 10 5-----
Utah State Mountain West 5-----
Stony Brook CAA 5-----
Seattle West Coast 5-----32
SIU Edwardsville Ohio Valley 5-----32
Utah Valley WAC 5-----32
Lipscomb ASUN 5-----3232
Fresno State Mountain West 4-----
LIU Northeast 4-----
Penn Ivy League 4-----
Miami (OH) MAC 4-----323232
Missouri State CUSA 4-----
San Jose State Mountain West 4-----
Eastern Illinois Ohio Valley 4-----
Oklahoma SEC 4-----32
Stephen F. Austin Southland 4-----
UNLV Mountain West 4-----
Old Dominion Sun Belt 4-----
Northeastern CAA 4-----3232
Northern Arizona Big Sky 4-----
Murray State Missouri Valley 4-----
Southeastern Louisiana Southland 4-----
New Mexico Mountain West 4-----32
Saint Francis (PA) Northeast 4-----
Wright State Horizon 3-----
Elon CAA 3-----
Jacksonville ASUN 3-----
Quinnipiac MAAC 3-----
Loyola Marymount West Coast 3-----16
Northwestern State Southland 3-----
DePaul Big East 3-----
Weber State Big Sky 3-----32
Mississippi Valley State SWAC 3-----
Valparaiso Missouri Valley 3-----
Western Carolina SoCon 3-----
Grambling State SWAC 3-----
Sacramento State Big Sky 3-----
Army Patriot 3-----
Central Michigan MAC 3-----32
Jackson State SWAC 3-----
Siena MAAC 3-----
UTSA American 3-----
Houston Christian Southland 3-----
Prairie View A&M SWAC 3-----
Albany America East 3-----
Butler Big East 3-----
Howard Northeast 3-----
Alabama State SWAC 3-----
Lamar Southland 3-----
Maine America East 3-----
Syracuse ACC 2-----3232
Sacred Heart MAAC 2-----
Campbell CAA 2-----
UAB American 2-----32
VCU Atlantic 10 2-----32
Gonzaga West Coast 2-----32
Columbia Ivy League 2-----32
Southeast Missouri State Ohio Valley 2-----
Kennesaw State CUSA 2-----
Belmont Missouri Valley 2-----
Arkansas–Pine Bluff SWAC 2-----
Boise State Mountain West 2-----
IU Indy Horizon 2-----
UNC Wilmington CAA 2-----32
Mercer SoCon 2-----
UT Martin Ohio Valley 2-----
Buffalo MAC 2-----
New Hampshire America East 2-----
Fairleigh Dickinson Northeast 2-----
Northern Colorado Big Sky 2-----
Eastern Washington Big Sky 2-----
Grand Canyon Mountain West 2-----
California Baptist WAC 2-----
George Washington Atlantic 10 1-----32
Georgia State Sun Belt 1-----
Pacific West Coast 1-----32
Eastern Michigan MAC 1-----
Holy Cross Patriot 1-----
American Patriot 1-----
Rhode Island Atlantic 10 1-----32
Binghamton America East 1-----
Birmingham–Southern School closed1-----
Detroit Mercy Horizon 1-----32
Oral Roberts Summit 1-----
Florida Atlantic American 1-----
Iowa State Big 12 1-----
UC Riverside Big West 1-----
UTEP CUSA 1-----32
Drake Missouri Valley 1-----
McNeese Southland 1-----
Nevada Mountain West 1-----
Niagara MAAC 1-----
UNC Asheville Big South 1-----
Alabama A&M SWAC 1-----
Hawai'i Big West 1-----
Davidson Atlantic 10 1-----
Lehigh Patriot 1-----
Middle Tennessee CUSA 1-----
North Dakota State Summit 1-----
Marist MAAC 1-----
Cal State Northridge Big West 1-----
Georgia Southern Sun Belt 1-----
UMBC America East 1-----
Rider MAAC 1-----
Duquesne Atlantic 10 1-----
Kent State MAC 1-----
Northern Kentucky Horizon 1-----
Abilene Christian WAC 1-----
Little Rock Ohio Valley 1-----
Vermont America East 1-----
New Mexico State CUSA 1-----
Omaha Summit 1-----
Idaho Big Sky 1-----
Ohio MAC 1-----
Towson CAA 1-----
East Carolina American 1-----
Southern SWAC 1-----
USC Upstate Big South 1-----
Tennessee Tech Ohio Valley 1-----
UIC Missouri Valley 1-----
Wagner NEC 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.