The 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship was the thirty-first annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national championship for

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 an ...

(NCAA) Division I women's

college lacrosse College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse in Canada is ...

. The tournament began with first-round play on May 12, and concluded with the championship game played at

Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium The Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium is the main stadium for Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, Stony Brook, New York (state), New York, United States. Construction began in 2000 at a cost of approximately $22 million. With a capacity of 12 ...

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...

Stony Brook, New York Stony Brook is a political subdivisions of New York#Hamlet, hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, Town of Brookhaven, New York, Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the No ...

, on May 27, 2012. The

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern ...

were the 2012 NCAA Tournament champions.

Dates and locations

The NCAA Tournament's eight first-round games were played Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13, and the four quarterfinal games were played Saturday, May 19, and Sunday, May 20. The tournament's first-round and quarterfinal games were played on the home fields of the higher seeded teams. The winners of the four quarterfinal games advanced to the two semifinal games played on May 25 and hosted by Stony Brook University at LaValle Stadium, the home field of the Stony Brook Seawolves football and lacrosse teams. The tournament championship game was played at LaValle Stadium on May 27.

Tournament field

The NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Committee selected sixteen teams to compete in the 2012 Division I women's lacrosse tournament. Northwestern leads DI selections
," NCAA.com (May 6, 2012). Retrieved May 16, 2012. Eight teams were selected on an "automatic qualifier" basis. The tournament champions of five conferences, including the

America East Conference The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research u ...

, the

American Lacrosse Conference The American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) was a women's lacrosse-only college athletic conference whose members competed at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). All of the ALC's members throughout its histor ...

(ALC), the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC), the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

and the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

, received automatic invitations to the NCAA Tournament. These five teams included the

Albany Great Danes The Albany Great Danes are the NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic programs of the University at Albany, SUNY, located in Albany, New York, United States. A member of the America East Conference, the University at Albany, SUNY sponsors team ...

of the America East, the No. 1 seed

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

of the ALC, the No. 3 seed

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

of the ACC, the No. 6 seed

Loyola Greyhounds The Loyola Greyhounds are the athletic teams that represent Loyola University Maryland. The teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, swimming & diving, and tennis. Men's sports also include golf, while wo ...

of the Big East, and the

Dartmouth Big Green The Dartmouth College Big Green are the varsity and club athletic teams representing Dartmouth College, an American university located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth's teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

of the Ivy League. In addition, three play-in games were held to determine the last three automatic qualifiers. The champions of the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

, the

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...

, the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

(CAA), the

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

(NEC), the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

, and the

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Of its current 11 full members, 10 are located in three states of the northeastern United States: Connecticut, New Jersey, and N ...

(MAAC) competed in the play-in games. The Patriot League's

Navy Midshipmen The Navy Midshipmen are the athletic teams that represent the United States Naval Academy. The academy sponsors 33 varsity sports teams and 12 club sport teams.Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conferenc ...

of the Mountain Pacific, the CAA's

Towson Tigers The Towson Tigers, formerly the ''Towson College Knights'', are the athletics teams of Towson University. All of the major athletic teams compete in the Colonial Athletic Association with 19 Division I athletic teams (13 in women's sports, 6 in ...

beat the NEC's

Monmouth Hawks The Monmouth Hawks refer to the 23 sports teams representing Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. The Hawks compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Colonial Athletic Association, joining on July 1, 2022. The footbal ...

, and the Atlantic 10's

UMass Minutemen The UMass Minutemen are the athletic teams that represent the University of Massachusetts Amherst; strictly speaking, the ''Minutemen'' nickname applies to men's teams and athletes only — women's teams and athletes are known as ...

defeated the

Canisius Golden Griffins The Canisius College Golden Griffins are composed of 16 teams representing Canisius College in intercollegiate athletics. These teams include men's and women's basketball, cross country, track, lacrosse, soccer, and swimming and diving. Men's spo ...

of the MAAC, with the winners receiving the final three automatic qualifier bids. The remaining eight tournament teams were chosen by the NCAA tournament selection committee on an at-large basis; the factors considered by the selection committee included: (1) the NCAA's

ratings percentage index The rating percentage index, commonly known as the RPI, is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule. It is one of the sports rating systems by which NCAA basketball, baseball, softball, ...

(RPI); (2) results against common opponents; (3) significant wins and losses; and (4) evaluation of the ten highest-rated teams on a team's schedule, as defined by strength of schedule and winning percentage. The eight at-large teams selected by the committee were the No. 2 seed

, No. 4 seed

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East Conference. The school's mascot is ...

, No. 5 seed

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the 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 state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

, and No. 7 seed

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

, as well as the unseeded

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

Penn Quakers The Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 33 varsity sports. The school has won three NCAA national championships in men's fencing and one in women's fencing. School colors There are se ...

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

, and

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic C ...

.NCAA.com, Women's Lacrosse, Division I
2012 Lacrosse Championship
Retrieved May 14, 2012. Eight conferences placed member teams in the 2012 tournament, but four conferences dominated the selections, garnering twelve invitations in the sixteen-team field. The ACC received four bids (Maryland, North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia), the ALC got three (Florida, Northwestern, Penn State), the Big East also received three (Syracuse, Loyola, Notre Dame), and the Ivy League got two (Dartmouth, Penn). The ACC, ALC and Big East also dominated the tournament seeding, with member teams receiving the top seven seeds.

Play-in games

Seeds

1. Florida (17-2)
2. Northwestern (17-2)
3. Maryland (17-3)
4. Syracuse (16-3)
5. North Carolina (14-3)
6. Loyola (MD) (13-5)
7. Duke (11-6)
8. Towson (16-3)

Teams

Tournament bracket

The 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket consisted of sixteen teams, eight of whom were seeded No. 1 through No. 8. In the first round of the tournament, each of the eight seeded teams was paired with one of the eight unseeded teams.Katherine Dunn,
Lacrosse Insider: Women's D-I field may be tighter than ever at the top
" ''The Baltimore Sun'' (May 7, 2012). Retrieved May 16, 2012.

References

{{2011–12 NCAA Division I championships navbox

NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship Women's sports in New York (state) Lacrosse in New York (state)

Dates and locations

Tournament field

Play-in games

Seeds

Teams

Tournament bracket

See also

References