The Northern Colorado Bears are the varsity athletic teams representing the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors seventeen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, tennis, and track and field; women's-only soccer, softball, swimming and diving, and volleyball; and men's-only baseball, football, and wrestling. The Bears compete in NCAADivision I, with the football team competing at the FCS level, and most teams are members of the Big Sky Conference.[3] Three Northern Colorado teams have separate affiliations in sports that the Big Sky does not sponsor. The baseball and the women's swimming and diving teams are affiliate members of the Western Athletic Conference, and the wrestling team is a member of the Big 12 Conference.
From 1969–1979, Northern Colorado participated in all of the first eleven Women's College World Series (WCWS) tournaments ever held and was the only team to do so. The team compiled a WCWS record of 37-22 in those eleven years. In 1974, in its sixth trip to the tournament, the team reached the AIAW championship game (its fifth game in two days), only to lose to Southwest Missouri State by a score of 14-7.[4] In 1976, the team advanced to the championship game, losing to Michigan State, 3-0. Two years later in 1978, the team reached the title game for the third time, falling to UCLA, also by a 3-0 score.
^Plummer, William; Floyd, Larry C. (2013). A Series Of Their Own: History Of The Women's College World Series. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States: Turnkey Communications Inc. ISBN978-0-9893007-0-4.
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