College Soccer 360
NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Tournament Notebook
#1 (Nov. 15, 2008)
By Pete LaFleur (editor@collegesoccer360.com)
DEFENDING CHAMPS FIGHT ON – USC’s penalty-kick advancement in Saturday's second-round game at BYU kept the Trojans from the dubious distinction of matching the earliest exit from the NCAAs by a defending champion. In 1999, Florida suffered a 1-0 loss to Hartford in the second round (less than one year after winning the ’98 NCAA title). When looking at the first 25 teams that won the NCAA Division I women’s soccer title ('82-’06), 17 of them have returned to the championship game (12 repeated as champion, five were runner-up), two others made it back to the College Cup semifinals, two lost in the quarterfinals and three were knocked out in the round-of-16.
Santa Clara is the most recent NCAA champion that returned to the College Cup’s final weekend (as a semifinalist/finalist) in the next season, doing so in 2002 (Portland lost in the ’03 round-of-16, UNC in the ’04 round-of-16, Notre Dame in the ’05 quarters, UP in the ’06 quarters, and UNC in the ’07 rd-of-16).
NCAA Tournament Finishes By Defending Champion
12 repeated as champion (North Carolina in 1983, ’84, '87-’94, ’97 and 2000)
5 were runner-up (UNC in ’85 and ’95, Notre Dame in ’96, UNC in ’98, and Santa Clara in '02)
2 semifinalists (George Mason in ’86, Portland in ’01)
2 quarterfinalists (Notre Dame in ’05, Portland in '06)
3 round-of-16 finishers (Portland in ’03, UNC in ’04 and '07)
1 round-of-32 finisher (Florida in '99)
(17 defending champs have returned to title game, 19 to the College Cup final weekend, 21 to at least the quarterfinals and 24 of the 25 have made it to at least the round-of-16)
SEEDS OF DISCONTENT – Since 2001, there have been 26 seeded teams that were sent on the road for the first weekend of the NCAAs (the ’01 and ’02 NCAA fields only seeded eight teams, while 16 have been seeded since '03). Of those 26 teams, four were knocked out in the first round and four more failed to advance past the second round – meaning that roughly one-third of the seeded teams sent on the road were eliminated before the round-of-16 (pending Florida State and Oklahoma State’s second-round results on Sunday). By comparison, since 2001 there have been 66 seeded teams that opened the NCAAs at home and only 21% of them (18; or one-in-five) have failed to advance to the round-of-16.
Of course, several seeded teams have overcome the challenge of opening on the road and gone on to post multiple wins, most notably four that went on to win the national title that season (Santa Clara in 2001, Portland in ’02 and ’05, and USC in ’07). Six others ended up losing in the round-of-16, four saw their seasons end in the quarterfinals and one (UCLA, in ’05) suffered its final loss in the College Cup semifinals.
Here are the breakdowns of how seeded first-weekend road teams have fared in the NCAAs (since 2001):
4 national champions (Santa Clara ’01, Portland ’02 and ’05, USC ’07)
1 semifinalist (UCLA ’05)
4 quarterfinalists (Kansas ’03, Washington ’04, Portland ’06 and ’07)
6 round-of-16 (Pepperdine ’02 and ’05, California ’05, Texas ’06, Florida ’06, Illinois ’06)
4 second round (Duke ’03 and ’05, Oklahoma St. ’06, Wake Forest ’07,
4 first round (Colorado ’03, Arizona ’04, BYU ’05, Colorado ’07)
3 are TBA (USC, Florida State and Oklahoma State, in ’08)
Seeded Teams Sent on the Road for First Weekend (1-16 seeds from ’03-’08; 1-8 seeds for ’01-’02)
(seeds were 1-8 in 2001-02 and 1-16 in ‘03-’04, while the ‘05-’08 NCAAs have featured four #1 seeds, four #2, four #3, four #4)
2008 Team Site First Weekend Finished
(2 seed/5-8) Florida State at Auburn, has advanced to the second round
(4 seed/13-16) Colorado at Minnesota, lost to South Dakota State (1st round)
(4 seed/13-16) USC at BYU, has advanced to round-of-16
(4 seed/13-16) Oklahoma St. at Rutgers, has advanced to second round
2007
(2 seed/5-8) Portland at Denver, advanced ... lost to UCLA (quarterfinals)
(2 seed /5-8) USC at Missouri, advanced ... won national title
(4 seed/13-16) Wake Forest at Boston College, lost to Connecticut (2nd round)
2006
(1 seed/1-4) Texas at Connecticut, advanced ... lost to Portland (round-of-16)
(1 seed/1-4) Portland at Utah, advanced ... lost to UCLA (quarterfinals)
(3 seed/9-12) Florida at Marquette, advanced ... lost at UCLA (round-of-16)
(3 seed/9-12) Illinois at St. Louis, advanced ... lost at Florida St. (round-of-16)
(4 seed/13-16) Oklahoma St. at Clemson, eliminated by Clemson (PKs; 2nd round)
2005
(1 seed/1-4) Portland at Nebraska, advanced ... won national title
(2 seed/5-8) Florida State at Florida, advanced ... lost to UCLA (semifinals)
(3 seed/9-12) California at Texas, advanced ... lost at Florida St. (round-of-16)
(3 seed/9-12) Duke at Yale, lost to Yale (2nd round)
(4 seed/13-16) Pepperdine at Vanderbilt, advanced ... lost at North Carolina (rd-of-16)
(4 seed/13-16) BYU at Utah, elim. by Weber St. (PKs; 1st round)
2004
(13 seed) Arizona at Connecticut, lost to Colgate (1st round)
(15 seed) Washington at Auburn, advanced ... lost at Princeton (quarterfinals)
2003
(10 seed) Colorado at Utah, lost to BYU (1st round)
(12 seed) Duke at Texas A&M, lost to A&M (2nd round)
(13 seed) Kansas at Missouri, advanced ... lost at UCLA (quarterfinals)
2002
(3 seed) Pepperdine at Wis.-Milwaukee, advanced ... lost to Michigan (round-of-16)
(8 seed) Portland at BYU, advanced ... won national title
2001
(2 seed) Santa Clara at Illinois, advanced ... won national title
Other Seeded Teams That Have Failed To Reach The NCAA Round of 16 (played at home first weekend)
2008 (none in first round; second round TBA)
2007
(2 seed/5-8) – Purdue ... Second-Round elim. by Indiana, 0-0 (PKs)
(2 seed/5-8) – Texas A&M ... Second-Round loss to Texas, 2-3
(3 seed/9-12) – Georgia ... Second-Round loss to Duke, 0-1
2006
(1 seed/1-4) – Santa Clara ... First-Round loss to California, 0-1
(3 seed/9-12) – Wake Forest ... Second-Round loss to Virginia, 0-2
(3 seed/9-12) – Rutgers ... Second-Round elim. by Boston College, 0-0 (PKs)
2005
(3 seed/9-12) – Connecticut ... First-Round loss to Boston Univ., 0-1
2004
(2 seed) – Penn State ... Second-Round loss to Maryland, 0-1
(3 seed) – Virginia ... Second-Round loss to Duke, 0-3
(8 seed) – Kansas ... Second-Round loss to Nebraska, 1-2 (OT)
(9 seed) – Texas A&M ... Second-Round loss to Illinois, 1-2
(10 seed) – Florida ... First-Round loss to Central Florida, 2-3
2003
(2 seed) – Notre Dame ... Second-Round loss to Michigan, 0-1
(7 seed) – Virginia ... Second-Round eliminated by Villanova, 0-0 (PKs)
(15 seed) – Boston College ... First-Round loss to Central Conn., 0-1
(16 seed) – Illinois ... First-Round loss to William & Mary, 0-2
2002
(5 seed) – West Virginia ... Second-Round loss to Virginia, 0-1
2001
(7 seed) – Notre Dame ... Second-Round loss to Cincinnati, 2-3
Top-16 seeds that have failed to reach the NCAA round-of-16 (since 2001; 8 seeds until 2003, then 16)
1-4 seeds – 4 teams (Notre Dame in ’03, Penn State and Virginia in ’04, Santa Clara in ’06)
5-8 seeds – 6 teams (Notre Dame in ’01, West Virginia in ’02, Virginia in ’03, Kansas in ’04, Purdue and Texas A&M in ’07)
9-12 seeds – 9 teams (Colorado and Duke in ’03, Florida and Texas A&M in ’04, UConn and Duke in ’05, Rutgers and Wake Forest in ’06, Georgia in ’07)
13-16 seeds – 7 teams (Boston College and Illinois in ’03, Arizona in ’04, BYU in ’05, Oklahoma State in ’06, Wake Forest in ’07, Colorado in ‘08)
Top-8 seeds that have failed to reach the NCAA round-of-8/quarterfinals (since 2001)
1-4 seeds – 9 teams (Pepperdine in ’02, Notre Dame in ’03, Penn State and Virginia in ’04, Texas and Santa Clara in ’06, UNC, Stanford and Penn State in '07)
5-8 seeds – 12 teams (Notre Dame, Stanford and UConn in ’01, West Virginia and UCLA in ’02, West Virginia, Virginia and Portland in ’03, UNC and Kansas in ’04, Purdue and Texas A&M in ’07)
Annual chart for matching seed (top-16 reach round-of-16; top-8 reach quarters; top-4 reach semifinals)
Year – Round of 16 ... Quarterfinals (8) ... Semifinals (4)
2007 – 12 ... 3 ... 1 (UCLA)
2006 – 12 ... 6 ... 2 (Notre Dame, UNC)
2005 – 13 ... 8 ... 3 (Portland, Penn State, UCLA)
2004 – 10 ... 4 ... 1 (Notre Dame)
2003 – 10 ... 4 ... 2 (UNC, UCLA)
2002 – 7 (of 8) ... 5 ... 1 (UNC)
2001 – 7 (of 8) ... 5 ... 3 (UNC, Santa Clara, Portland)
Seeds of College Cup Final Weekend Participants (semifinalists; since 2001)
Seeds 1-4: 13
Seeds 5-8: 8
Seeds 9-12: 2
Seeds 13-16: 3
* Others: 2
* Notes: Penn State reached the semifinals in 2002 but was not seeded (there were only eight seeds in ’02) … in 2003, UConn made it all the way to the NCAA title game but did not face a top-16 seed until beating 11th seed Florida State in the semifinals (three seeded teams – #15 Boston College, #2 Notre Dame and #7 Virginia, plus Villanova, which beat UVa – all were upset in the round before they would have faced UConn).
HANKS HITS 70-70 – Notre Dame’s Kerri Hanks had a pair of assists in Friday’s win over Toledo, making her the third Division I women’s soccer player ever to reach 70 career goals (82) and 70 assists (70). Former UNC star Mia Hamm and Notre Dame alum Jenny Streiffer are the only other members of the exclusive 70-70 club.
TARPLEY’S NCAA TOURNAMENT ASSIST RECORD IN JEOPARDY – Hanks has climbed within two assists of tying former North Carolina standout and current U.S. national teamer Lindsay Tarpley for the most career assists in NCAA Tournament play. Hanks has totaled 17 career assists in the NCAAs (plus nine goals) while Tarpley had 19 assists in NCAA games, spanning the 2002-05 seasons. Most of Tarpley’s NCAA Tournament assists came in her sophomore season (2003), when she racked up 11 assists in six games to establish another record that will be tough to beat.
QUICK HITS ON THE NCAA TOURNAMENT SELECTIONS
* College Soccer 360 correctly predicted 31 of the 34 at-large spots in the 2008 NCAA women’s field, missing out on enrants Michigan State, Georgia and Marquette (CS360 incorrectly forecasted Purdue, UNC Greensboro and TCU in the field of 64). CS360 correctly called 14 of the 16 seeded teams, predicting San Diego and Texas among the top-16 (instead of Missouri and Wake Forest).
* Hats off to Graham Hayes of ESPN.com and Soccer America’s Paul Kennedy, who each correctly predicted 33 of the 34 at-large teams. Hayes' only wrong guess was Columbia (instead of William & Mary), a pick that might have been influenced by the fact that Graham wrote a couple of feature stories on Columbia earlier this season. Kennedy had every at-large team correct except for James Madison (he instead had East Carolina in the bracket).
* The NCAA committee had a challenging task this season: avoid conference matchups in the first two rounds while also minimizing travel expenses. In many ways, it would appear that those two agendas are mutually exclusive. Teams such as Florida State, Oklahoma State and Colorado possibly would have been stronger candidates to host this weekend, if a conference foe could have been included in their respective site groups. Instead, those teams (plus USC) all were sent on the road for the first weekend of the NCAAs, despite being top-16 seeds.
* CS360 anticipated at least two seeded teams having to play on the road and predicted USC heading to Penn State along with Oklahoma State going to West Virginia. Instead, USC ended up at BYU and Oklahoma State at Rutgers, while Florida State also was sent packing (to Auburn) and Colorado had to make the trip to Minnesota. With the University of Denver in the field and Northern Arizona another team within the 400-mile bus-travel radius, CU seemed like a no-brainer to be among the host teams. That would have taken NAU out of the running for the BYU site, but possibly USC’s group instead could have played at San Diego (and then UCSB could have played in southern California, and maybe BYU moved to the Stanford site). At the end of the day, the grouping of teams appeared conducive to giving a seeded Colorado team a home site – if so, the Buffs might still be playing.
* Another head-scratcher was Rutgers being given a host spot instead of Penn State, which may have been penalized for being in “no-man’s land” (in terms of the 400-mile travel radius) morseo than RU. Heading into the final week of conference tournament play, Penn State had an RPI of 12 and Rutgers was 30. RU already had been eliminated from the BIG EAST Tournament (losing in the quarterfinals) while Penn State went on to win the Big Ten Tournament title. Based on those RPI numbers alone (plus the contrasting conference tournament results), Rutgers appeared to be on the bubble of being a 2/3 seed at its site, while Penn State was in the running to be the top seed at its site (and one of the 16 national seeds). Instead, they were placed in the same site. In all fairness, a team that appears to have been rated only the third-best in its first-weekend grouping (behind Oklahoma State and PSU) should not be given the advantage of facing those teams at home. Fairfield was able to bus to Rutgers (as was Penn State), but one would think that Oklahoma State and RU simply could have shifted over to PSU for this weekend’s games. It’s possible a team like Radford would have been within 400 miles of Penn State, or Toledo could have been moved from the Notre Dame group (and that spot then be filled by a team like Evansville). As things turn out, Penn State – like Colorado – is left wondering “what if?”
* All soccer fans look forward to the day when, at the very least, more of a priority can be placed on protecting teams in line with their seed, but such a hope may not jive with travel issues and the mandate to eliminate first-weekend conference matchups. Yet the process still is hard to justify to hard-working players and coaches who are members of a team that fashions an impressive NCAA resume, only to be denied the home-field advantage that they earned. Playing within the comforts of home can be a key factor in soccer, where there often is minimal margin for error in games decided by a single goal or in penalty kicks. There’s no question that the NCAA committee faces a tough task each year, but so do the teams that lose a homefield advantage that they clearly had earned. There’s still something to say for the basic concept of rewarding excellence – regardless of whether a team comes from a remote location (such as Stillwater, Okla.) or has the geographical misfortune of being located close to other top-seeded teams (a dilemma all too familiar to teams in Florida, Texas, and both southern and northern California).
SUNDAY’S FORECAST – A look at the brackets from the past seven NCAA tournaments (2001-07) shows that, on average, four seeded teams fail to reach the round-of-16. Such a fate already has befallen Colorado (one of the four #4 seeds) and it’s likely that a couple more seeded teams will lose on Sunday. In 2001 and ’02, the brackets featured eight seeded terams but only five of them managed to reach the round-of-16 in each of those tournaments (Stanford, Notre Dame and UConn each were knocked out early in ’01, as were Pepperdine, West Virginia and UCLA in ’02). In the past five tournaments featuring 16 seeds, the high-water mark for advancing to the round-of-16 was 13 seeded teams in 2005 (only 10 made it in both ’03 and ’04 while 12 seeds reached the final-16 in both ’06 and ’07).
With recent history as the guide, three more seeds likely will fall on Sunday. Further analysis of the 26 seeded teams (since ’01) that have been eliminated before the round-of-16 shows that, in an average year, one of those teams has been a 1-8 seed (current #1 or #2), one has been a 5-12 seed (current #2/#3), one has been a 13-16 seed (current #4, i.e. Colorado this year) and one has been a 9-16 seed (current #3/#4). CS360 takes a shot at predicting the potential upsets on Sunday:
* West Virginia winning at Virginia (a #2 seed) … as mentioned earlier, West Virginia easily could have been a second-tier host team (i.e. welcoming a seeded traveling team, such as USC) and the Mountaineers likely would have received a boost in the selection process if they had advanced past UConn in the BIG EAST semifinal that went to PKs … that would have produced a title-game matchup vs. Notre Dame, improving WVU’s RPI (which was 31 entering that week) and the Mountaineers likely would have given a battle to the Irish (who played without Kerri Hanks and Brittany Bock) … WVU has plenty of experience facing its border-rival UVa, in both the regular season and the NCAAs, and Klockner Stadium very well could be the site for one of Sunday’s more entertaining matchups … despite qualifying for the NCAAs 20 times and advancing to the round-of-32 for 15 years straight, Virginia is eager to shake its reputation as an NCAA underachiever (16-17-3 all-time record in the NCAAs, with only one trip to the semifinals) … Sunday’s battle with WVU would be a good first step towards that goal.
* James Madison winning at Wake Forest (a #3 seed) … the Colonial Athletic Association saw all three of its NCAA entrants (JMU, William & Mary, and Northeastern) advance out of the first round, trailing only the ACC (6), Big 12 (5) and Pac-10 (4) among conferences with the most teams left (the BIG EAST also has three) … Wake Forest was a surprising pick to be among the seeded teams (much less one of the four #3 seeds) and has to avoid being complacent with that home-field edge … still, WFU’s program has more recent NCAA Tournament experience than JMU’s, so this could be a hard win for the Dukes to pull off.
* Rutgers winning over Oklahoma State (a #4 seed) … the Scarlet Knights already have made the most of their hosting role by outlasting Penn State, and now RU is one win away from a likely third-round game at Stanford … weather could have been a factor in this game, but it looks like gametime conditions will only be partly-cloudly with high-40s temperature and 0% chance of precipitation (the forecast in Stillwater calls for sunny in the mid-60s, with a 10% chance of rain) … Washington – which on Friday rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the middle of the second half to beat LSU in OT – possibly could be the team to pull the upset of a #3/#4 seed (at Texas A&M), but that might require a quick start and strong momentum to neutralize a spirited A&M crowd that saw the Aggies roll over Texas State in the opening round.
* Notre Dame in recent years has endured several second-round scares and even lost a couple (vs. Cincinnati in ’01 and Michigan in ’03), so don’t discount Michigan State’s chances if the Spartans can catch a few breaks … Notre Dame’s run to the 2004 NCAA title nearly was halted in the second round (instead, a 90th-minute goal produced a 1-0 win over Wisconsin) … two years later, a team from the same state put another scare into ND, which slipped by Wisconsin-Milwaukee in that tense 2006 second-rounder (1-0).
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAM STREAKS – Two of the longest NCAA Tournament appearance streaks in the history of Division I women’s soccer ended this season, as Connecticut failed to make the field for the first time ever (ending a 26-year streak that dated back to 1982) while Santa Clara missed the tournament for the first time in two decades (1989-2007) … North Carolina, which has qualified for all 27 NCAAs, is the only team ever to have a longer NCAA appearance streak that UConn or SCU … Notre Dame now owns the second-longest active streak, with 16 straight trips to the NCAAs (1993-2008) … Clemson saw its 14-year NCAA streak end in 2008 while Nebraska is absent for a third straight year (after 10 consecutive NCAA trips).
Active Streaks of Consecutive NCAA Tournament Appearances
27 – North Carolina (1982-2008)
16 – Notre Dame (1993-2008)
15 – Virginia (1994-2008)
14 – Texas A&M (1995-2008)
14 – Penn State (1995-2008)
13 – Wake Forest (1996-2008)
12 – UCLA (1997-2008)
11 – Stanford (1998-2008)
9 – Florida State (2000-08)
9 – Portland (2000-08)
9 – West Virginia (2000-08)
8 – Tennessee (2001-08)
8 – Texas (2001-08)
6 – Boston College (2003-08)
6 – Colorado (2003-08)
6 – Duke (2003-08)
6 – Florida (2003-08)
6 – Illinois (2003-08)
NCAA appearance streaks that ended in 2008 …
26 – Connecticut (1982-2007)
19 – Santa Clara (1989-2007)
14 – Clemson (1994-2007)
Other NCAA Tournament appearance streaks (6-plus)…
13 – William & Mary (1992-2004)
10 – Nebraska (1996-2005)
8 – Colorado College (1984-91)
8 – UMass (1982-89)
8 – Michigan (1997-2004)
8 – N.C. State (1985-92)
7 – BYU (1997-2003)
7 – UMass (1991-97)
7 – William & Mary (1984-90)
6 – Duke (1992-97)
6 – Harvard (1996-2001)
6 – Princeton (1999-2004)
6 – SMU (2001-06)
(note: there have been 13 double-digit NCAA appearance streaks)
All-Time NCAA Tournament Appearances (teams in italics are not in the 2008 NCAAs)
27 – North Carolina (82-08)
26 – Connecticut (82-07)
23 – William & Mary (84-90, 92-04, 06-08)
21 – Virginia (87-92, 94-08)
19 – Santa Clara (89-07)
18 – Stanford (90-96, 98-08)
16 – California (83-84, 86-88, 93, 98-02, 04-08)
16 – Notre Dame (93-08)
16 – Portland (92-98, 00-08)
15 – Duke (92-97, 99-0, 03-08)
15 – UMass (82-89, 91-97)
14 – Clemson (94-07)
14 – Penn State (95-08)
14 – Texas A&M (95-08)
14 – Wisconsin (85-88, 91, 93-96, 98, 00, 02, 04, 05)
13 – Central Florida (82-84, 87-88, 91, 98-99, 01-04, 07-08)
13 – Hartford (89-92, 94-95, 97-02, 06)
13 – UCLA (95, 97-08)
13 – Wake Forest (96-08)
12 – Boston College (82-85, 99, 01, 03-08)
12 – Florida (96-01, 03-07)
12 – SMU (90, 92, 93, 95, 97, 01-06)
11 – BYU (97-03, 05-08)
11 – George Mason (82-89, 93, 94, 96, 97)
11 – Harvard (82-84, 94-96, 01-04, 08)
11 – N.C. State (85-92, 94-96)
10 – Dartmouth (93-94, 96, 98-03, 05)
10 – Nebraska (96-05)
10 – USC (98-03, 05-08)
Most Trips to the NCAA Quarterfinals (final-8)
24 – North Carolina
18 – Connecticut
14 – Santa Clara
12 – Portland
11 – Notre Dame
10 – UMass
8 – UCLA, Penn State and N.C. State
7 – Colorado College
5 – Stanford, Virginia, William & Mary, Hartford, UC Santa Barbara, California, George Mason
4 – Florida State, Florida, Clemson, Wisconsin, Central Florida
(three trips each for Cortland St., Harvard, Duke and Texas A&M; two each for Princeton, Boston College, Brown, Maryland and Nebraska; one each for Missouri-St. Louis, SMU, FIU, Dartmouth, Michigan, BYU, Ohio State, Washington, Illinois, West Virginia and USC.
Most Trips to the NCAA College Cup Final Weekend (semifinals)
23 – North Carolina
10 – Santa Clara
9 – Notre Dame
8 – Portland
7 – Connecticut
6 – UCLA and UMass
5 – Colorado College
4 – Florida State and George Mason
(three each for California and Penn State; two each for UCF, Wisconsin, N.C. State and Florida; one each for Missouri-St. Louis, Virginia, Hartford, Duke, Stanford, SMU, Princeton and USC)
Most NCAA Title-Game Appearances
21 – North Carolina
6 – Notre Dame
4 – Connecticut
3 – George Mason, Portland and UCLA
(two trips each for Colorado College and Santa Clara; one each for UCF, UMass, N.C. State, Wisconsin, Duke, Florida, Florida State and USC)
SUPER SIX – Friday’s first-round results extended streaks for six teams that now have reached the second round/round-of-32 for at least nine consecutive seasons. North Carolina has been among the final 32 teams every year (27) of the NCAA Division I women’s soccer championship while Notre Dame is riding a streak of 16 straight years (since ’93) among the final-32, followed by Virginia (15; since ’94), Texas A&M (14; since ’95), UCLA (12, since ’97) and Portland (9; since 2000). No other teams are riding second-round streaks of longer than six seasons.
Active streaks of reaching NCAA round-of-32
27 – North Carolina (1982-2008)
16 – Notre Dame (1993-2008)
15 – Virginia (1994-2008)
14 – Texas A&M (1995-2008)
12 – UCLA (1997-2008)
9 – Portland (2000-08)
6 – Duke (2003-08)
5 – Illinois (2004-08)
4 – Florida State and USC (2005-08)
Active streaks of reaching the NCAA round-of-16
26 – North Carolina (1982- )
9 – UCLA (1999- )
8 – Portland (2000- )
4 – Notre Dame (2004- )
3 – Florida State (2005- )
3 – Texas, Stanford and Florida (2005- )
Active streaks of reaching the NCAA quarterfinals/final-8
5 – UCLA (2003- )
4 – Notre Dame and Portland (2004- )
3 – Florida State (2005- )
Active streaks of reaching College Cup final weekend (semifinals)
5 – UCLA (2003- )
3 – Florida State (2006- )
2 – Notre Dame (2007- )