August 12, 2008 3:54 PM EDT
NCAA Division I Men and Women's Soccer Returns to Fox Soccer Channel August 29
For the fourth consecutive season, the stars of NCAA Division I soccer will have an opportunity to shine on Fox Soccer Channel.
Under an ongoing agreement with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), Fox Soccer Channel's live and exclusive NSCAA College Game of the Week telecasts will include eight women's matches played on Thursdays and 12 men's matches on Fridays.
The 20-game telecast schedule announced today features 10 men's and eight women's teams ranked in the NSCAA/adidas(R) pre-season national rankings. A men's showdown between second-ranked UCLA and No. 8 Maryland kicks off Fox Soccer Channel's exciting college slate on Friday, Aug. 29, at 10:00 p.m. ET, live from the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Later in the season, Maryland hosts defending NCAA champion and Atlantic Coast Conference rival Wake Forest - the preseason No. 1 - on Friday, Sept. 26, at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Women's action commences on Thursday, Sept. 11, with 12th-ranked West Virginia hosting Kentucky live at 8:00 p.m. ET. The women's schedule is loaded with top-flight teams, as 12 of the 16 College Game of the Week participants advanced to the 2007 NCAA Tournament, including NCAA semifinalist and preseason No. 2 UCLA, which travels to 22nd-ranked Santa Clara on Thursday, Sept. 25, at 11:00 p.m. ET.
"Fox Soccer Channel is pleased to once again be the home for the best in NCAA Division I soccer, bringing viewers the pride, passion and rivalries of the collegiate game," said David Sternberg, executive vice president and general manager of Fox Soccer Channel. "Our live and exclusive NSCAA College Game of the Week package is a key component of Fox Soccer Channel's year-round coverage of the top international and domestic soccer competitions."
Some of the brightest stars in the collegiate game will appear this season on Fox Soccer Channel. A total of 33 players - 19 women and 14 men - scheduled to appear on NSCAA College Game of the Week telecasts were recently named to the 2008 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List. Presented annually to the top NCAA Division I male and female players in the country, the two MAC Hermann Trophy winners are selected by a vote of current Division I NSCAA member coaches.
Play-by-play responsibilities will be shared throughout the season by a quartet of accomplished broadcasters:
-- Steve Bell - Voice of United Soccer Leagues telecasts on Fox
Soccer Channel and MLS Saturday on FSC sideline reporter
-- Dave Johnson - Television voice of D.C. United, the Washington
Wizards and regular Fox Soccer Channel match commentator
-- Dean Linke - Radio voice of the United Soccer Leagues'
Carolina RailHawks
-- Mark Rogondino - Fox Soccer Channel match commentator and
sideline reporter
Meanwhile, the color commentator for a majority of NSCAA College Game of the Week telecasts will be Keith Tabatznik, who served as head men's soccer coach at Georgetown University for 22 seasons and finished with 220 career wins.
"The NSCAA is proud to work with Fox Soccer Channel to showcase NCAA Division I soccer," said Al Albert, NSCAA President and former men's coach at the College of William and Mary. "This partnership has helped raise the visibility of the sport in the past three years, and we look forward to offering another exciting schedule featuring some of the nation's top programs and players."
Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Cultural Videos and Sports Communications is returning for a fourth season to coordinate the production of all men's and women's NSCAA matches on Fox Soccer Channel. Cultural Videos Founder David Bolton, who also produces USL and MLS coverage on Fox Soccer Channel, will again serve as director/producer of the FSC college package.
Following is the complete schedule for Fox Soccer Channel's 2008 NSCAA College Game of the Week telecasts:
Schedule of NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Coverage on Fox Soccer
Channel(a)
Date Teams Time
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Friday, August 29 UCLA (14) vs. Maryland (8) 10:00 p.m. ET
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Friday, September 5 UC Santa Barbara (t-21) vs. 11:00 p.m. ET
Kentucky
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Friday, September 12 Portland vs. Washington 11:00 p.m. ET
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Friday, September 19 Stanford vs. Creighton (6) 11:00 p.m. ET
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Friday, September 26 Maryland (8) vs. Wake Forest (1) 8:00 p.m. ET
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Friday, October 3 Connecticut (2) vs. West Virginia 8:00 p.m. ET
(15)
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Friday, October 10 South Florida (18) vs. Louisville 8:00 p.m. ET
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Friday, October 17 Cal Poly vs. UC Santa Barbara (t- 11:00 p.m. ET
21)
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Friday, October 24 Furman (25) vs. College of 8:00 p.m. ET
Charleston
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Friday, October 31 St. John's vs. Cincinnati 8:00 p.m. ET
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Friday, November 7 Army vs. Navy 8:00 p.m. ET
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Friday, November 14 Dartmouth vs. Brown (11) 8:00 p.m. ET
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Schedule of NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Coverage on Fox Soccer
Channel(a)
Date Teams Time
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Thursday, September 11 West Virginia (12) vs. Kentucky 8:00 p.m. ET
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Thursday, September 18 James Madison vs. Penn State (9) 8:00 p.m. ET
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Thursday, September 25 Santa Clara (22) vs. UCLA (2) 11:00 p.m. ET
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Thursday, October 2 Duke (16) vs. North Carolina (3) 8:00 p.m. ET
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Thursday, October 9 Binghamton vs. Boston Univ. 8:00 p.m. ET
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Thursday, October 16 William & Mary vs. Virginia 8:00 p.m. ET
Commonwealth
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Thursday, October 23 Georgia (18) vs. Auburn 8:00 p.m. ET
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Thursday, October 30 South Carolina vs. Florida (20) 8:00 p.m. ET
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(a) Schedule subject to change; home teams are listed first; numbers in parentheses denote NSCAA/adidas(R) pre-season Division I top 25 ranking.
About Fox Soccer Channel
Fox Soccer Channel offers the most comprehensive coverage of world-class soccer available in the United States, including Major League Soccer, England's Barclays Premier League, Italy's Serie A and the Argentine First Division as well as global tournaments such as the UEFA Cup, UEFA Women's Championship, English FA Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, CONCACAF Champions League(TM) and FA Community Shield. The Official Broadcast Partner of the United States Youth Soccer Association, Fox Soccer Channel also televises the United Soccer Leagues and NCAA Division I college soccer matches. The channel reaches more than 33 million cable and satellite households in the U.S. and Caribbean.


Fox Soccer Channel is one of 28 national and regional programming networks within Fox Networks Group, an operating unit of the News Corporation (NYSE: NWS). These broadcast, cable, satellite and telephony delivered networks reach more than half a billion U.S. television homes, and represent one of the media industry's most diverse collections of programming operations. Fox Networks Group consists of FOX Sports, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Cable Networks and Fox Networks Engineering & Operations. For more information, visit America's most visited online soccer destination at foxsoccer.com.
About NSCAA
Based in Kansas City, Kansas, the NSCAA is the largest coaches' organization in the United States. Since its founding in 1941, it has grown to include more than 26,000 members who coach both genders at all levels of the sport. In addition to a national rankings program for colleges and high schools, NSCAA offers an extensive recognition program that presents nearly 10,000 individual awards every year. It fulfills its mission of coaching education through a nationwide program of clinics and week-long courses, teaching more than 7,000 soccer coaches each year.
Source: Fox Soccer Channel