The following are the first round pairings for the 1996 NCAA Women’s Division I Tournament. The top eight teams (denoted by a *) were seeded, the seedings follow the list of first-round games.

  • William & Mary (14-8-0) at *North Carolina (20-1-0)
  • James Madison (14-5-2) at UNC-Greensboro (16-5-1)
  • Wake Forest (13-7-0) at Clemson (15-6-1)
  • N.C. State (11-8-1) at *Florida (20-2-0)
  • Stanford (12-8-0) at *Santa Clara (15-3-2)
  • Penn State (14-4-2) at George Mason (14-6-2)
  • Massachusetts (15-4-1) at Harvard (15-1-0)
  • Dartmouth (12-3-1) at *Connecticut (20-2-0)
  • Washington (12-7-0) at *Portland (16-0-2)
  • Vanderbilt (11-8-1) at Kentucky (13-5-2)
  • Virginia (12-6-2) at Duke (9-9-3)
  • Minnesota (13-6-0) at *Nebraska (21-0-0)
  • San Diego (13-5-1) at *Texas A&M (19-3-0)
  • George Washington (10-6-4) at Maryland (17-4-2)
  • Northwestern (13-7-1) at Wisconsin (14-4-4)
  • Indiana (11-10-0) at *Notre Dame (20-1-0)

Seeded Teams

Seed Team
1 North Carolina
2 Notre Dame
3 Portland
4 Connecticut
5 Santa Clara
6 Nebraska
7 Texas A&M
8 Florida

Home teams for the second-round games will be announced after the completion of round one.