Women’s Professional Soccer has officially announced its set of home openers for the 2010 season, with the exception of the Los Angeles Sol and Atlanta Beat. Those two teams will announce their home openers at a later date.
Below are the games that will open the 2010 season. The second season of WPS will kick off later to avoid the Easter weekend. Just as The Equalizer told you, Washington will open with Boston, followed by Boston hosting Philadelphia on the next weekend. We also told you to look out for Sky Blue FC on the opening Fox Soccer Channel game, and there it is.
UPDATE: Obviously, Los Angeles and Atlanta are yet to set their home openers. The Equalizer has been told that the Sol have to wait on two other tenants (LA Galaxy and Chivas USA) before setting its home date. The sad reality is that the Sol is the third tenant at the Home Depot Center.
As for Atlanta, the Beat must first make sure that it stadium is sorted. Expect Atlanta to open its world-class stadium on either May 8 or May 15. That will have Atlanta spending approximately one month on the road before coming home.
Here is the full list below:
2010 WPS Home Openers (home team listed first)
Saturday, April 10
Washington Freedom vs. Boston Breakers Maryland SoccerPlex
Sunday, April 11
Philadelphia Independence vs. Atlanta Beat John A. Farrell Stadium
Saint Louis Athletica vs. FC Gold Pride (Bay Area) The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park
Sky Blue FC (NJ/NY) vs. Chicago Red Stars Yurcak Field *Live on FSC (6pm ET)
Saturday, April 17
Chicago Red Stars vs. Saint Louis Athletica Toyota Park
FC Gold Pride (Bay Area) vs. Sky Blue FC (NJ/NY) Castro Valley Athletic Stadium
Sunday, April 18
Boston Breakers vs. Philadelphia Independence Harvard Stadium *Live on FSC (6pm ET)
- You could not ask for much better to open the 2010 season. Washington and Boston are both quality sides that are developing an I-95 rivalry, while Atlanta and Philadelphia will square-off in their first fixture to determine which team will have expansion team bragging rights. Defending champion Sky Blue FC will also be featured on national television.
- The following weekend features Saint Louis Athletica traveling to the Chicago Red Stars, which is the best rivalry in the league thus far. The traveling support there is the model that all regional rivalries should live by. And who could argue with Philadelphia at Boston for the April 18 FSC game? Heather Mitts and Amy Rodriguez return to Boston in what should be a huge match-up.
- Also, FC Gold Pride will not play at Buck Shaw Stadium in 2010. The team will play the majority of its games at California State University-East Bay, but the April 17th match will be at Castro Valley High School Stadium. Read more on that here UPDATE: FC Gold Pride announced this on Wednesday. Read details here. There will be new turf installed.
- One final note for now: Several sources have indicated that the WPS season will be a 30 game season, with each team getting 15 home dates. WPS played a 20 game season in 2009.
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