The 2018 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament (also known as the 2018 Women's College Cup) was the 37th 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 WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina from November 30 – December 2, 2018 while the preceding rounds were played at various sites across the country during November 2018.
Qualification
All Division I women's soccer programs were eligible to qualify for the tournament. 28 teams received automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments, 3 teams received automatic bids by claiming the conference regular season crown (Ivy League, Pac-12 Conference, and West Coast Conference don't hold conference tournaments), and an additional 33 teams earned at-large bids based on their regular season records.
Stanford Bracket SeedSchoolConferenceBerth TypeRecordRPIAppearanceLast bid1 Stanford Pac-12 Automatic 17–0–2 1 28th 20172 Tennessee SEC At-Large 13–2–3 9 12th 20173 Texas A&M SEC At-Large 15–4–1 10 24th 20174 Boston College ACC At-Large 14–4–1 10 19th 2015 Arizona Pac-12 At-Large 12–5–2 29 6th 2017 BYU West Coast Automatic 13–4–1 42 19th 2016 Clemson ACC At-Large 12–8–0 46 19th 2017 Denver Summit League Automatic 13–5–2 85 11th 2017 Hofstra Colonial Athletic Automatic 15–5–1 63 7th 2017 Louisville ACC At-Large 12–6–0 52 5th 2013 Memphis American Athletic Automatic 17–3–0 14 7th 2016 North Texas Conference USA Automatic 15–2–3 33 6th 2017 Ole Miss SEC At-Large 12–7–1 39 8th 2017 Seattle WAC Automatic 10–7–3 152 4th 2016 TCU Big 12 At-Large 12–4–3 19 3rd 2017 Wisconsin Big Ten At-Large 12–3–4 36 20th 2017
Georgetown Bracket SeedSchoolConferenceBerth TypeRecordRPIAppearanceLast bid1 Georgetown Big East Automatic 17–0–3 4 9th 20172 Baylor Big 12 At-Large 17–5–0 5 6th 20173 Virginia ACC At-Large 15–4–0 15 31st 20174 Duke ACC At-Large 14–3–2 11 24th 2017 Abilene Christian Southland Automatic 15–5–1 67 1st Never Central Connecticut State Northeast Automatic 16–1–2 98 8th 2014 Lipscomb ASUN Automatic 14–4–2 76 1st Never Mississippi State SEC At-Large 9–6–2 17 1st Never Monmouth MAAC Automatic 16–3–1 53 6th 2017 Montana Big Sky Automatic 7–8–6 166 4th 2011 Murray State Ohio Valley Automatic 13–4–1 64 4th 2017 Princeton Ivy Automatic 11–3–2 24 13th 2017 Rutgers Big Ten At-Large 11–3–5 30 13th 2017 Texas Tech Big 12 At-Large 13–5–2 34 6th 2016 Vanderbilt SEC At-Large 15–3–1 21 9th 2017 Washington State Pac-12 At-Large 12–5–1 32 12th 2017
North Carolina Bracket SeedSchoolConferenceBerth TypeRecordRPIAppearanceLast bid1 North Carolina ACC At-Large 17–3–1 3 37th 20172 UCLA Pac-12 At-Large 14–3–1 7 22nd 20173 Santa Clara West Coast At-Large 16–3–1 12 28th 20174 Texas Big 12 At-Large 13–4–3 13 13th 2017 Arkansas SEC At-Large 13–4–4 26 5th 2017 Auburn SEC At-Large 12–5–2 28 16th 2017 Howard SWAC Automatic 12–6–2 237 2nd 2015 Kansas Big 12 At Large 11–5–3 23 8th 2016 Little Rock Sun Belt Automatic 13–4–4 117 1st Never Milwaukee Horizon Automatic 16–1–1 89 12th 2013 Minnesota Big Ten Automatic 11–8–2 44 11th 2016 NC State ACC At-Large 10–6–3 20 14th 2017 Northwestern Big Ten At-Large 10–4–4 47 6th 2017 San Jose State Mountain West Automatic 9–6–6 128 3rd 2017 Saint Louis Atlantic 10 Automatic 18–3–1 41 3rd 2006 Virginia Tech ACC At-Large 9–7–3 43 10th 2015
Florida State Bracket SeedSchoolConferenceBerth TypeRecordRPIAppearanceLast bid1 Florida State ACC Automatic 15–4–2 2 19th 20172 West Virginia Big 12 Automatic 14–4–3 6 19th 20173 South Carolina SEC At-Large 13–5–1 18 12th 20174 USC Pac-12 At-Large 15–2–2 8 17th 2017 Albany America East Automatic 14–6–2 96 3rd 2016 Boston Patriot Automatic 11–7–3 90 14th 2015 Bowling Green Mid-American Automatic 14–4–3 75 3rd 2005 LSU SEC Automatic 13–6–3 27 6th 2015 Long Beach State Big West Automatic 12–5–3 37 6th 2016 Loyola (Chicago) Missouri Valley Automatic 11–6–1 114 4th 2007 Ohio State Big Ten At-Large 9–5–4 40 13th 2017 Penn State Big Ten At-Large 15–5–1 22 24th 2017 Radford Big South Automatic 16–2–1 59 7th 2012 UNCG Southern Automatic 15–4–1 73 11th 2017 South Florida American Athletic At-Large 14–3–0 16 5th 2017 Wake Forest ACC At-Large 8–8–1 31 20th 2017
Bracket The bracket was announced on Monday, November 5, 2018
Stanford Section
* Host institution
Schedule
First round
Second round
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Final Regular Season Rankings
Georgetown Section
* Host institution
Schedule
First round
Second round
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Final Regular Season Rankings
North Carolina Section
* Host institution
Schedule
First round
Second round
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Final Regular Season Rankings
Florida State Section
* Host institution
Schedule
First round
Second round
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Final Regular Season Rankings
College Cup
Schedule
Semifinals
Final
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Final Regular Season Rankings
Record by conference ConferenceBidsRecordPct.R32R16QFSFFNCBig East14–1–01111––Pac-12511–3–25321––ACC1016–9–5772221Big 1267–4–2511–––Big Ten66–6–0321–––SEC99–9–1721–––ASUN11–1–01–––––Colonial11–1–01–––––WCC21–1–11–––––American21–2–01–––––
The R32, S16, E8, F4, CG, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the Round of 32 (second round), Round of 16 (third round), Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Final, and National Champion, respectively. The following conferences received one bid and finished the tournament with a record of 0–1–0: America East, Atlantic 10, Big Sky, Big West, C-USA, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, Mid-American, MVC, Mountain West, Northeast, OVC, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC, Summit, Sun Belt, WAC. In the interest of conserving space, these teams are not shown in the table.
Statistics
Goalscorers
All-Tournament team
2018 Women's College CupAll Tournament Team Player Team Jaelin Howell Florida State Malia Berkely Florida State Gabby Carle Florida State Dallas Dorosy Florida State Carolina Jeffers Florida State Natalia Kuikka Florida State Julia Ashley North Carolina Emily Fox North Carolina Dorian Bailey North Carolina Kyra Carusa Georgetown Catarina Macario Stanford
See also NCAA Women's Soccer Championships (Division II, Division III) NCAA Men's Soccer Championships (Division I, Division II, Division III) 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament
References