2010 WPS Home Openers

Women’s Professional Soccer today announced the bulk of its home openers for the 2010 WPS Season, which features two new teams entering the league with the Atlanta Beat and Philadelphia Independence as 2010 expansion franchises. League play will begin with a full slate of games on the weekend of April 10-11, two weeks later than the start of the inaugural season in 2009 in order to accommodate warmer weather and avoid playing on the Easter holiday weekend. It will be the first time ever that four WPS games take place over one weekend.

The opening game for Fox Soccer Channel’s WPS Sunday on FSC national telecast package, which will return with the same appointment-television format in 2010, will feature 2009 WPS Champion Sky Blue FC (NJ/NY) playing host to the Chicago Red Stars on April 11 at 6pm ET. Sky Blue FC played their final home game of the 2009 season in front of a sell-out crowd at Yurcak Field in Piscataway, NJ, before its 3-game run through the WPS Playoffs, and will be looking for a successful start to their title defense. The Fox Soccer Channel national game in Week 2 will then feature the first television appearance for a WPS expansion team with the Philadelphia Independence traveling to play the Boston Breakers at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, MA on April 18, also at 6pm ET. The game will be a return to the Boston area for former No. 1 overall draft choice Amy Rodriguez and star defender Heather Mitts – both of whom played with the Breakers last year before signing with the Independence during the off-season.

Other home openers on the weekend of April 10-11 include Philadelphia hosting the Atlanta Beat in a match-up of expansion teams, Saint Louis Athletica taking on FC Gold Pride in St. Louis, MO, and the Washington Freedom hosting East Coast rival Boston at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, MD. FC Gold Pride will host its 2010 home opener against Sky Blue FC on April 17 at Castro Valley H.S. Athletic Stadium, a temporary venue, while the Chicago Red Stars will face regional rival Saint Louis Athletica with its first home game at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL.

Home openers for the Los Angeles Sol and Atlanta will be announced soon with Atlanta expecting to play its first home game in May at its brand new stadium built specifically for Women’s Professional Soccer at Kennesaw State University.

click HERE for fixtures so far.