The 1987

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 natio ...

was the sixth annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

women's collegiate soccer. The championship game was played again at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium in

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massach ...

during December 1987.

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

defeated

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

in the final, 1–0, to win their fifth national title. Coached by

Anson Dorrance Albert Anson Dorrance IV (born April 9, 1951) is a retired American soccer coach (sport), coach. He was the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer, women's soccer program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Uni ...

, the Tar Heels finished the season 23–0–1. This was the second of North Carolina's record nine consecutive national titles (1986–1994). The ''most outstanding offensive player'' was

Michelle Akers Michelle Anne Akers (formerly Akers-Stahl; born February 1, 1966) is an American former Association football, soccer player who starred in the FIFA Women's World Cup 1991, 1991 and FIFA Women's World Cup 1999, 1999 Women's World Cup and Footbal ...

from

Central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...

, and the ''most outstanding defensive player'' was Debbie Belkin from Massachusetts. Akers was also the tournament's leading scorer (3 goals).

Qualification

With the advent of the

NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division III women's soccer tournament is an annual event organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the national champions of women's collegiate soccer among its Division III members in the United States ...

in 1986, the tournament eligibility remained fixed for just Division I and Division II women's soccer programs. The Division II

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

was not added until the following season, 1988. Nonetheless, the tournament field remained fixed at 12 teams.

Bracket

References

{{1987–88 NCAA Division I championships navbox

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 natio ...

NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament

Women's sports in Massachusetts

Qualification

Bracket

See also

References