INDIANAPOLIS -- The field of 64 teams, which will compete for the 33rd NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, was announced Monday by the Division I Women’s Soccer Committee.
Interactive Bracket Printable Bracket
The defending national champion UCLA Bruins, the automatic qualifier out of the Pac-12 Conference, earned a top seed along with Texas A&M, the automatic qualifier from the Southeastern Conference. Stanford and Florida State also earned No. 1 seeds after receiving an at-large selection from the Pac-12 and an automatic qualification from the Atlantic Coast Conference, respectively.
San Diego, an at-large selection from the West Coast Conference will face UCLA in the opening-round match. Texas A&M will host Houston Baptist, the automatic qualifier from the Southland Conference. Stanford will host Cal State Fullerton, the Big West champion, in a first-round match, and Florida State will host South Alabama, the Sun Belt champion.
The No. 2 seeds include Florida, Penn State, North Carolina and Virginia. North Carolina is the only team who has been invited to the tournament every year since its inception in 1982.
Capturing the No. 3 seeds are Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas Tech and West Virginia. Notre Dame, Pepperdine, Washington, and Wisconsin each earned a No. 4 seed to complete the top 16 seeded teams.
The Pac-12 led all conferences with nine teams in the tournament. The SEC followed with eight teams while the ACC and Big 12 will have six representatives in this year’s tournament.
Thirty-one conferences were granted automatic bids for the 2014 championship, while the remaining 33 teams were selected at-large. The top 16 teams are seeded and conference teams cannot play each other in the first- or second-rounds. When pairing teams, the committee follows geographic proximity parameters. The top 16 teams will host and all other sites were selected for the first-round to create the least number of flights.
First-round games will be played at campus sites Nov. 14-16. Second-round games will be played Nov. 21 at campus sites, and third-round games will be played Nov. 23 at the same campus sites. Quarterfinal games will be played Nov. 28 or 29 on campus sites.
The 33rd annual NCAA Women’s College Cup will be played Dec. 5 and 7 at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, with Florida Atlanticy and the Palm Beach County Sports Commission serving as co-hosts. The first national semifinal will be played and shown live on ESPNU at 5 p.m. ET Dec. 5. The second semifinal will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU. The national championship match will take place at 1 p.m. Dec. 7 and also will broadcast live on ESPNU.
CONFERENCES RECEIVING AUTOMATIC QUALIFICATION (31):
• America East Conference -- New Hampshire
• American Athletic Conference -- Connecticut
• Atlantic Coast Conference -- Florida State
• Atlantic Sun Conference -- Florida Gulf Coast
• Atlantic 10 Conference -- Dayton
• Big East Conference -- DePaul
• Big Sky Conference -- Northern Arizona
• Big South Conference -- High Point
• Big Ten Conference -- Wisconsin
• Big 12 Conference -- West Virginia
• Big West Conference -- Cal State Fullerton
• Colonial Athletic Association -- Northeastern
• Conference USA -- Rice
• Horizon League -- Valparaiso
• Ivy League -- Harvard
• Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference -- Rider
• Mid-American Conference -- Buffalo
• Missouri Valley Conference -- Illinois State
• Mountain West Conference -- San Diego State
• Northeast Conference -- Central Connecticut State
• Ohio Valley Conference -- SIUE
• Pac-12 Conference -- UCLA
• Patriot League -- Boston U.
• Southeastern Conference -- Texas A&M
• Southland Conference -- Houston Baptist
• Southern Conference -- Mercer
• Southwestern Athletic Conference -- Prairie View A&M
• Summit League -- South Dakota State
• Sun Belt Conference -- South Alabama
• West Coast Conference -- Brigham Young
• Western Athletic Conference -- Seattle