Men's Soccer To Host St. John's On FOX Soccer Channel

AKRON, Ohio – For the third consecutive year, The University of Akron men's soccer team will be featured on FOX Soccer Channel as one of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) College Soccer Games of the Week, the organization announced Tuesday.

In a contest that figures to have significant early-season RPI implications, the Zips will host Big East Conference champion St. John's, which finished the 2011 campaign ranked 18th in the country, at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field before a national audience on Friday, Sept. 14.

To accommodate the broadcast, the new start time for the contest will be 7 p.m. (ET)

Akron, the seven-time defending Mid-American Conference regular-season champion, advanced to the NCAA's Round of 16 a year ago despite losing seven starters to Major League Soccer the previous season. The Zips will return eight of 11 starters this fall and announced the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation last February.

It will mark the fourth appearance overall on the network since 2010 for UA, which was on FOX Soccer twice in 2011 and once in 2010. It will also be the third time Akron has hosted a match on the channel as the Zips earned a 4-0 shutout victory over Tulsa in 2010 and played New Mexico to a 1-1 draw last fall.

UA's match against the Red Storm will kick off a big weekend for the Blue and Gold as the Zips will also play host to South Florida, which advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2011, just two days later (Sept. 16) in the final contest of the annual University of Akron Tournament.

The NSCAA College Game of the Week is in its eighth season, with the NSCAA and FOX Soccer teaming up to offer live and exclusive telecasts of the nation's top collegiate soccer teams. Fans that miss a match will be able to view NSCAA College Game of the Week telecasts on-demand via FOXSoccer2Go.com, Fox Soccer's broadband video service.

FOX Soccer's 2012 NSCAA Game of the Week Broadcast Schedule
(Men's Soccer games only)
Aug. 18 - Chivas de Guadalajara U-23 vs. Indiana (Ft. Wayne, Ind.)
Aug. 24 - Michigan at South Florida
Sept. 7 - Washington at UConn
Sept. 14 - St. John's at Akron
Sept. 21 - Virginia at North Carolina
Sept. 21 - UCLA at UC Santa Barbara
Sept. 28 - George Mason at Old Dominion
Oct. 5 - Virginia at Maryland
Oct. 13 - St. John's at Louisville
Oct. 19 - Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara
Oct. 26 - Portland at Santa Clara
Nov. 2 - SMU at Memphis
Nov. 9 - Brown at Dartmouth