The 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship was the thirty-first annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national championship for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's college lacrosse.
The tournament's first-round and quarterfinal games were played on the home fields of the higher seeded teams.
The winners of the four quarterfinal games advanced to the two semifinal games played on May 25 and hosted by Stony Brook University at LaValle Stadium, the home field of the Stony Brook Seawolves football and lacrosse teams.
[1] The Patriot League's Navy Midshipmen defeated the Oregon Ducks of the Mountain Pacific, the CAA's Towson Tigers beat the NEC's Monmouth Hawks, and the Atlantic 10's UMass Minutemen defeated the Canisius Golden Griffins of the MAAC, with the winners receiving the final three automatic qualifier bids.
[1] The remaining eight tournament teams were chosen by the NCAA tournament selection committee on an at-large basis;[1] the factors considered by the selection committee included: (1) the NCAA's ratings percentage index (RPI); (2) results against common opponents; (3) significant wins and losses; and (4) evaluation of the ten highest-rated teams on a team's schedule, as defined by strength of schedule and winning percentage.
The ACC received four bids (Maryland, North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia), the ALC got three (Florida, Northwestern, Penn State), the Big East also received three (Syracuse, Loyola, Notre Dame), and the Ivy League got two (Dartmouth, Penn).