NCAA Committee to Set 18-Team Field Hockey Bracket
The selection committee will place 18 teams in the Division I Field Hockey Championship bracket Sunday, with Northwestern opening postseason play Friday.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Hockey
The NCAA committee will place 18 teams in the Division I Field Hockey Championship bracket Sunday, November 8. Reigning national champion Northwestern, 16-2 overall and 7-1 in the Big Ten, plays its first postseason game Friday against the winner of Rutgers and Indiana.
Why it matters
The field includes conference champions from ten of the 11 Division I conferences plus eight at-large bids, and for the first time the top eight teams will be seeded. Seeds No. 1 through No. 4 will host regionals, raising the stakes of the final selections for teams on the bubble.
The bracket projection places 18 teams in the field, with eight at-large bids and ten of 11 Division I conferences supplying automatic bids. Yale and Virginia are the last two teams in and Rutgers and Liberty the first two out, though the projection assumes all remaining conference tournament games go as seeded.
The players
Northwestern
Northwestern is the reigning national field hockey champion and a contender for a third straight national title.
The details
The bracket will be updated as games are played through Sunday, when the committee places teams. The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation has three teams and will not receive an automatic bid.
Timeline
Sunday, November 8: NCAA committee places teams in the final Division I field hockey bracket.
Friday, November 12: Northwestern plays its first postseason game against the Rutgers/Indiana winner.
Season Trajectory
This year marks the first time the NCAA field hockey bracket seeds the top eight teams, a change that reshapes how regionals are awarded. Seeds No. 1 through No. 4 will host regionals, tying postseason hosting rights more directly to season performance.
Teams on the bubble, including Yale, Virginia, Rutgers and Liberty, will learn their postseason fate Sunday, and the seeding change means top-eight placement now carries hosting advantages. Fans tracking the bracket can follow the Sunday announcement to see which teams host regionals.
The takeaway
Because seeding now extends to the top eight teams and the top four host regionals, every remaining conference tournament result can shift who hosts and who travels this postseason.
What happens next
The NCAA committee places 18 teams in the Division I field hockey bracket on Sunday, November 8, and Northwestern opens its postseason on Friday, November 12.
Further reading
Explore more in Hockey coverage across the United States.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Daily Northwestern.
