Everything You Need to Know About the Division I Women's Quarterfinals

After a second round packed with overtime winners and another late Yale comeback, the field has narrowed to single digits: A trio of ACC teams (North Carolina, Boston College and Duke), another trio of Ivy Leaguers (Penn, Princeton and Yale) and one apiece from the Big 12 (Florida) and Big Ten (Northwestern).

The turnaround from last week’s exhilaration to a midweek games might seem fast, but most of these teams endured similar schedules all season. They’re tested, ready and — if nothing else — the chance to inch closer to championship glory provides enough motivation to lock in as they lock horns.

Behind each matchup are people and units with stories, and they’ll look to add new chapters on Thursday. While this preview isn’t a spoiler alert — you can’t do that with sports — we can share how the matchups and narratives read on paper.

All games will air on ESPNU on Thursday.

LINKS

» Schedule  
» TV Listings  
» Rankings

Penn at No. 3 Northwestern  
12 p.m. EST | Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium (Evanston, Ill.)

Home cooking vs. road warriors: The Wildcats are 9-2 at home this season, with the lone losses to No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Boston College. Penn is 5-3 on the road.

Penn last seen: Scoring two goals in the final four minutes to force overtime on the road against No. 6 Maryland. The Quakers prevailed 11-10 after Erika Chung found Catherine Berkery for a goal in the second overtime. It marked the second time the Quakers beat the Terps, the Big Ten runners-up to Northwestern, this season, having also done so on March 31.

Northwestern last seen: Handling Michigan 15-7 behind an NCAA tournament record 10 goals from Tewaaraton finalist Madison Taylor — a performance that can only be described as ridiculous.

Penn storyline to watch: Anna Brandt entered 2025 needing only 11 goals to become Penn’s all-time leading scorer — but 63 goals (her current total) had a nicer ring to it. A few more to lift the Quakers to their first Final Four since 2009 would be even sweeter.

Northwestern storyline to watch: It’s hard to keep your eyes off Madison Taylor. One of the world’s best attackers, Taylor's 10-goal output against Michigan brought her closer to another record: The single-season goals mark, which currently belongs to High Point’s Abby Hormes (103 in 2022). Taylor enters the quarterfinals with 99.

Series history: Northwestern holds a 17-4 all-time record against Penn, most recently downing the Quakers 20-7 in last year’s quarterfinals. Penn last beat Northwestern on April 2, 2017 (10-7).

Duke at No. 4 Florida 
2 p.m. EST | Donald R. Dizney Stadium (Gainesville, Fla.) 

Home cooking vs. road warriors: The Gators are 9-1 at Dizney this season. Duke will look to get out of town with the same sunny result as its Tobacco Road rival. Florida’s lone home blemish came at the hands of UNC. The Blue Devils are 6-3 in away games. 

Duke last seen: Beating Virginia when it counted most. After losing to the Cavs in the regular season, Duke cruised by its ACC foe 17-9. In a second round of close calls, the eight-goal margin of victory was second only to UNC (9 vs. Clemson). 

Florida last seen: Losing a three-goal lead in the final 10 minutes of the fourth quarter but rebounding to KO Stanford on a Kaitlyn Davies golden goal in overtime. Like we said, it was a day of close calls.

Duke storyline to watch: Callie Hem (65G, 5A) combined for 15 goals in a pair of Duke wins last weekend, dropping eight vs. James Madison and seven vs. Virginia. Hem has scored at least three goals 13 times for Duke, but what’s most impressive is that the fifth-year grad transfer from Harvard doesn’t shoot herself into games. She’s highly efficient with a .607 shooting percentage, good for seventh in Division I.

Florida storyline to watch: One of the biggest questions for the Gators heading into this season was what they’d do without their four leading scorers from last year’s 2024 semifinal run (Maggi Hall, Danielle Pavinelli, Ashley Gonzelez and Emily Heller). Gianna Monaco put those questions to bed — she’s scored 70 times in 2025. However, with Monaco largely limited against Stanford, the Gators flexed their versatility, getting a combined nine goals from graduate transfer Jordan Basso (four goals) and overtime heroine Davies (five goals). As the competition gets tougher, a multi-dimensional offense can be clutch, like Davies vs. the Cardinal.

Series history: Not much. These programs have only played once, and it was also in the NCAA quarterfinals — a 13-9 Duke win in 2011

No. 7 Yale at No. 2 Boston College  
5 p.m. EST | Newton Campus Lacrosse & Soccer Field (Newton, Mass.)

Home cooking vs. road warriors: The Eagles have won 15 straight home games, including an 8-0 mark this season. Yale enters the matchup with a 6-2 road record.

Yale last seen: Holding Syracuse scoreless for the final 10:38 and rallying from an 8-7 fourth-quarter deficit to win 9-8. Taylor Lane led the offense with two goals and three assists. (Interestingly, Lane’s mother played lacrosse at Boston College.)

Boston College last seen: The Eagles raced out to a 6-0 lead against Stony Brook and survived a rally, winning 10-7. Rachel Clark scored four times, and Emma LaPinto netted a hat trick.

Yale storyline to watch: Down but never out describes many of the Bulldogs’ 2025 games, most recently their first- and second-round come-from-behind wins against UAlbany and Syracuse. It’s also a microcosm of Yale’s season. The Bulldogs lost three straight in March, including Ivy League Ls against Brown and Princeton. Despite winning the rest of the day, Yale needed to beat Cornell in its regular-season finale to qualify for the Ivy League tournament it won in 2024. A fourth-quarter rally against Penn in the semifinals came next, followed by an 11-goal rout of Princeton to become an unlikely NCAA tournament seventh seed. So, while a win against Boston College might also seem improbable on paper, the long-winded takeaway is never to get too cozy against the Bulldogs.

Boston College storyline to watch: Rachel Clark is also on record watch. Like Taylor, Clark is inching closer to the single-season goals mark. She currently has 95 goals.

Series history: Boston College holds the 8-2 advantage, taking the most recent meeting 16-9 in April 2024. Yale’s two wins came in the first two matchups of the series (2007 and 2008).

Princeton at No. 1 North Carolina  
7:30 p.m. EST | Dorrance Field (Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Home cooking vs. road warriors: UNC hasn’t lost — period — and has a 9-0 mark at Dorrance. Princeton fares well on the road (7-1), though, with the one loss coming to Penn.

Princeton last seen: Speaking of road success, a 17-6 loss at home in the Ivy League finals put the Tigers out of contention for a seed, with Johns Hopkins ultimately earning the No. 8 spot. That wasn’t an issue for the Tigers, who built a 16-7 lead early in the fourth quarter and won 18-12. McKenzie Blake scored eight goals on 10 shots. 

North Carolina last seen: Showing no signs of rust after an extra week off and first-round bye. UNC cruised past Clemson for the third time this year in an 18-9 win. Marissa White (five goals) and Chloe Humphrey (four goals) paced the offense.

Princeton storyline to watch: We talked about Yale’s resilience, but Princeton’s has been impressive, too. The Tigers are playing in their first quarterfinal since 2019. If you watched them for most of the season, that’s likely not a surprise. The three-headed offensive monster of Blake (86G, 9A), Jami McDonald (54G, 34A) and Haven Dora (28G, 58A) set records left and right and helped the Tigers lock up the top seed for the Ivy League tournament. But that aforementioned loss to Yale left questions about whether or not Princeton had peaked too early. Please. Princeton dusted itself off, beat UMass in the first round, 19-10, before dispatching Hopkins. UNC has few holes, but the toughness could be a critical intangible for the Tigers in an upset bid.

UNC storyline to watch: Truly, it’s hard to pick just one storyline, unit or player — we can only empathize with opponents scouting the Heels, attempting to pick their poison. But let’s go with the defense. UNC leads Division I in goals per game (17.53), but the Tigers’ offense is nothing to shake a stick at, sitting eighth nationally at 15.68 goals per game. There have been stick drops aplenty in the Garden State, but UNC also has a lockdown 1-v-1 defense that is first in the country in goals allowed per game (6.79). Keep an eye on All-American Brooklyn Walker-Welch (16CT) and anchor Betty Nelson (.493SV%) to neutralize even Princeton’s most potent offensive threats.

Series history: The two programs will square off for just the second time in program history and first since 2002, a 16-2 Princeton win in the Final Four.