Women’s Professional Soccer revealed its 2011 season schedule on Wednesday. The regular season kicks-off on April 9 and ends on August 14, at which point the playoffs begin. There will be a two week break for the Women’s World Cup from June 25 – July 4.
Each team will play 18 regular season home games – nine at home and nine on the road. Fox Soccer Channel will broadcast 17 games this season and eight of them will feature the Western New York Flash, an expansion team expected to be extremely competitive after acquiring several former FC Gold Pride players, including Marta. Fans will get their first national television look at Sahlen’s Stadium on May 22, when hometown hero Abby Wambach and her magicJack’s Washington Freedom visit the Flash.
“We are thrilled to embark on a third year of our exclusive broadcast relationship with WPS,” said David Nathanson, General Manager of FOX Soccer. “We are proud to showcase the world’s greatest female players, particularly in a FIFA Women’s World Cup year.”
Check out the full schedule here.
The newest rendition of the name for the club formerly known as the Washington Freedom is magicJack’s Washington Freedom. It’s a curious name for a team that will play almost all of its home games at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla. There is still a possibility that the team “might play one or two of its home games in the Washington, D.C. area,” whatever that means. The team will appear on Fox Soccer Channel just twice – the May 22 game and June 18 at Widener University against the Philadelphia Independence. No games will be nationally televised from Florida Atlantic University.
That May 22 battle should prove to be an attractive one. It should pit two highly competitive teams against each other and it is also Abby Wambach’s professional homecoming (she has returned to Rochester before with the U.S. Women’s National Team). Plus, it’s a battle of the league’s two newest owners, both of whom were battling for Marta’s services. All of those sub-stories plus it is another Marta v. Wambach game? That’s good TV.
In total, nine FSC games will be at Harvard Stadium (five) and Widener University (four), so expect to see American football lines pretty often.
