Country United States Teams 48 | Dates November–December 1998 | |
Champions Florida Gators
(1st title, 1st College Cup) Runners-up North Carolina Tar Heels
(16th title match, 17th College Cup) Semi-finalists Portland Pilots
(4th College Cup)
Santa Clara Broncos
(6th College Cup) | ||
The 1998 NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournament (also known as the 1998 NCAA Women's College Cup) was the 17th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I women's collegiate soccer. The semifinals and championship game were played again at the UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina during December 1998.
Contents
Florida defeated North Carolina in the final, 1–0, to win their first national title. Coached by Becky Burleigh, the Gators finished the season 26–1. Florida won the championship in just their first appearance in the College Cup, a feat matched only by USC in 2007.
The Most Outstanding Offensive Player was Danielle Fotopoulos from Florida, and the Most Outstanding Defensive Player was Meredith Flaherty, also from Florida. Fotopoulos and Flaherty, along with ten other players, were named to the All-tournament team.
The tournament's leading scorer, with 3 goals, was Meredith Florance from North Carolina.
Qualification
All Division I women's soccer programs were eligible to qualify for the tournament. The tournament field expanded again, this time increasing from 32 teams to 48.
Format
To accommodate the sixteen additional teams, an additional round was added to the tournament for the thirty-two lowest-seeded teams. The top sixteen teams, meanwhile, were given a bye into the Second Round.