INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Committee has selected the 29 teams to compete in the 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship.
Northwestern was selected as the overall No. 1 seed after finishing 17-1 and winning the Big Ten Conference championship.
The tournament begins with first-round games May 12. Eight sites will host first- and second-round competition Friday, May 12, and Sunday, May 14, and four quarterfinal games will be played Thursday, May 18. The first- and second-round games will be played live on ESPN+. The quarterfinal games will be played live on ESPNU. All games will be played on the campuses of competing institutions.
The winners of the four quarterfinal games will advance to the national semifinals hosted by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the Town of Cary at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. The semifinal games will be shown live on ESPNU at 3 and 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, Friday, May 26. The championship game will air live on ESPN Sunday, May 28 at Noon Eastern time. Tickets for the semifinal and national championship games can be purchased online at www.ncaa.com/tickets.
Syracuse (16-2) earned the No. 2 seed in the field, while Boston College enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed with a 16-3 record. North Carolina (14-4) rounds out the top four seeds.
Fifteen conferences, including the American Athletic Conference, America East Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, ASUN Conference, Big East Conference, Big South Conference, Big Ten Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Mid-American Conference, Northeast Conference, Pac-12 Conference, Patriot League and Southern Conference had conference champions awarded automatic qualification for the 2023 championship. The remaining 14 teams were selected on an at-large basis. A complete bracket with teams, dates and sites is available at NCAA.com.
Teams Earning Automatic Qualification:
- American Athletic: Florida (16-3)
- America East: UAlbany (12-6)
- Atlantic 10 Richmond: (16-3)
- ACC: Boston College (16-3)
- ASUN: Jacksonville (12-7)
- Big East: Denver (19-0)
- Big South: Mercer (17-2)
- Big Ten: Northwestern (17-1)
- Colonial: Stony Brook (14-3)
- Ivy: Pennsylvania (13-4)
- MAAC: Fairfield (14-4)
- MAC: Central Michigan (10-8)
- Northeast: Sacred Heart (11-7)
- Pac-12: Southern California (16-3)
- Patriot: Loyola Maryland (17-2)
Teams Selected At-Large:
- Army West Point (15-3)
- Drexel (12-5)
- James Madison (17-2)
- Johns Hopkins (8-8)
- Marquette (15-3)
- Maryland (14-6)
- Massachusetts (16-2)
- Michigan (11-7)
- North Carolina (14-4)
- Notre Dame (13-5)
- Penn State (11-6)
- Syracuse (16-2)
- UConn (12-6)
- Virginia (11-6)
Army West Point, Marquette and Sacred Heart will be making their debut appearances in the tournament, while Virginia leads the field with their 27th consecutive appearance and 35th overall. In the 2022 championship, North Carolina defeated Boston College 12-11 at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Maryland, to win its third women’s lacrosse national championship.
NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse championship information is available on https://www.ncaa.com/sports/lacrosse-women/d1.