The NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship is an American intercollegiate

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

tournament conducted by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA), and determines the Division I national champion. The championship is contested exclusively by women's teams and there is no equivalent NCAA men's championship. The tournament has been held annually since 1981. The most successful team is the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the stat ...

, who have ten titles. In addition, North Carolina has finished national runner-up an NCAA record eleven times. The most recent championship was won by the North Carolina Tar Heels. Division II and Division III championships are also held each year.

History

Field hockey was one of 12 women's sports added to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

championship program for the 1981–82 school year, as the NCAA engaged in battle with the

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Inte ...

for sole governance of women's collegiate sports. The AIAW continued to conduct its established championship program in the same 12 (and other) sports; however, after a year of dual women's championships, the NCAA overcame the AIAW and usurped its authority and membership. The first NCAA women's national championship events were staged November 21–22, 1981, in cross country and

. The tournament originally began with six teams but has since expanded to 19; at different times a third-place game has been played as well. Under the tournament's current format, 19 teams qualify for the tournament with three play-in games. The play-in games and first two rounds are played at the home turf of the higher seeds in each matchup. The final four teams then move on to the championship rounds at a predetermined site.

Past champions

Tournament Records and Statistics

Team titles

Statistics

*Most Goals, Game: 10 ** Old Dominion (1984; Old Dominion–10 vs. Virginia–0) *Most Goals, Both Teams: 13 **

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

(2008; Maryland–8 vs. Duke–5) *Goals Per Game, Tournament: 5.67 ** Old Dominion (1984) *Fewest Goals Allowed Per Game, Tournament: 0.00 ** Old Dominion (1990, three games) ** Old Dominion (1992, three games) ** Wake Forest (2002, four games) *Penalty Corners, Game: 31 ** Old Dominion (1984; vs. Virginia)

Individual records

*Most Goals, Single Game: 5 ** Paula Infante,

(2004; Maryland–5 vs. Delaware–2) ** Maartje van Rijswijk, Old Dominion (2012; Old Dominion–6 vs. Michigan–1) *Most Goals, Tournament: 11 ** Marina DiGiacomo, Old Dominion (2000; four games) *Most Assists, Game: 6 ** Cheryl Van Kuren, Old Dominion (1984; Old Dominion–10 vs. Virginia–0) *Most Assists, Tournament: 8 ** Adrienne Yoder, Old Dominion (2000; four games) *Saves, Game: 36 ** Missy Farwell,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

(1984; Virginia–2 vs. North Carolina–1) *Fewest Goals Allowed Per Game, Tournament: 0.00 ** Kathy Fosina, Old Dominion (1990; three games) ** Kim Decker, Old Dominion (1992; three games) ** Katie Ridd, Wake Forest (2002; four games)

Result by school and by year

58 teams have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in at least one year starting with 1981 (the initial year that the post-season tournament was under the auspices of the NCAA). The results for all years are shown in this table below. The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament: * National Champion * National Runner-up * Semifinals * Quarterfinals (''Two teams in 1981, four teams thereafter'') * , Round of 16 (''Only 12 teams, 1982-1998'') * Play-In Round (''Starting 2013'')

All-time record

Source: ''as of end of 2022 championship'' * indicates schools belong to Division II. * indicates schools that no longer sponsor field hockey. *School indicates they have win at least one championship. *Other bold indicates most in respective column.

References

External links

NCAA field hockey link
* {{Major women's sport leagues in North America Women's field hockey competitions in the United States 1981 establishments in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1981