The first four rounds of the competition were held at the home ground of the higher seed, while the College Cup (semifinals and final) were held at Harder Stadium on the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara.

The championship match was held on December 10, 2018 with the Maryland Terrapins defeating the Akron Zips 1–0 to claim their fourth title in program history.

Maryland did not yield any goals in this year's College Cup, maintaining a clean-sheet and out-scoring opponents, 6–0.

The Stanford Cardinal came into this tournament as the three-time defending NCAA champions.

The remaining 24 berths are supposed to be determined through an at-large process based upon the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of teams that did not automatically qualify.