02:33 PM CST on Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Austin Aztex have announced their first regular season schedule, with 15 home games in the works.
Nelson Field will be buzzing the first week of the regular season as the Aztex play three home games including the season opener on Saturday, April 18 against the Minnesota Thunder. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30pm on opening night.
Three days later the Aztex welcome the USL-1 defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps on Tuesday, April 21. To conclude the first week, on Saturday, April 25, Austin hosts the Cleveland City Stars, which was promoted from USL-2 in the offseason.
“We’re very excited to offer our fans so many home games to start the season,” said team owner Phil Rawlins. “We will have a tremendous atmosphere for our home games at Nelson Field and hope the fans come out and support the Aztex in what we hope to be a very successful first season in USL-1.”
Two weeks later the Aztex return to action in front of a partisan crowd at Nelson Field and a national television audience. The Aztex-Puerto Rico Islanders game will be the USL-1’s featured game of the week on Fox Soccer Channel. For head coach Adrian Heath, the nationally televised game is a perfect opportunity to show soccer fans in the U.S. what kind of soccer and fan support Austin has to offer.
“We know our fans will support the club and the game on Fox Soccer Channel will allow them to show the rest of the nation that this is a proper soccer organization from the front office, to the players, and including all the fans,” Heath said.
Following the team’s first road game at Montreal on May 17, the Aztex return home for a four-game home stand starting on Sunday, May 24 against the Carolina Railhawks. Five days later on Friday, May 29, the Puerto Rico Islanders return to Austin for the team’s final visit of the regular season.
To wrap up the early-season home games, the Aztex play a pair of games against the Charleston Battery, which defeated the Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas in the 2008 U.S. Open Cup before losing in the finals to D.C. United, 2-1. The Battery comes to the Capital City for games on Friday, June 5 and Sunday, June 7.
The remaining home schedule includes two additional games in June against the Carolina Railhawks (Friday, June 19) and Rochester Rhinos (Sunday, June 21), two games in July against the Portland Timbers (Saturday, July 11) and Montreal Impact (Saturday, July 25), two games in August against the Minnesota Thunder (Sunday, Aug. 16) and Miami FC (Saturday, Aug. 29), and the final home game on Monday, Sept. 7 against the Portland Timbers.
In addition to the regular season, the Aztex will play three pre-season MLS exhibition games (New England Revolution – Feb. 28; Houston Dynamo – Mar. 7; Columbus Crew – Mar. 14) as well as a couple of friendlies during the season.
2009 AUSTIN AZTEX USL-1 SCHEDULE
|
DATE |
HOME |
AWAY |
TIME |
|
|
Sat., April 18 |
AUSTIN |
Minnesota Thunder |
7:30pm |
|
|
Tue., April 21 |
AUSTIN |
Vancouver Whitecaps |
7:30pm |
|
|
Sat., April 25 |
AUSTIN |
Cleveland City Stars |
7:30pm |
|
|
*Fri., May 8 |
AUSTIN |
Puerto Rico Islanders |
7:00pm |
|
|
Sun., May 17 |
Montreal Impact |
AUSTIN |
2:45pm |
|
|
Sun., May 24 |
AUSTIN |
Carolina Railhawks |
6:00pm |
|
|
Fri., May 29 |
AUSTIN |
Puerto Rico Islanders |
7:30pm |
|
|
*Fri., June 5 |
AUSTIN |
Charleston Battery |
7:00pm |
|
|
Sun., June 7 |
AUSTIN |
Charleston Battery |
6:00pm |
|
|
*Fri., June 12 |
Puerto Rico Islanders |
AUSTIN |
7:00pm |
|
|
Sun., June 14 |
Miami FC |
AUSTIN |
5:00pm |
|
|
Fri., June 19 |
AUSTIN |
Carolina Railhawks |
7:30pm |
|
|
Sun., June 21 |
AUSTIN |
Rochester Rhinos |
6:00pm |
|
|
Sat., June 27 |
Cleveland City Stars |
AUSTIN |
6:00pm |
|
|
*Fri., July 3 |
Cleveland City Stars |
AUSTIN |
7:00pm |
|
|
Sun., July 5 |
Rochester Rhinos |
AUSTIN |
2:00pm |
|
|
Sat., July 11 |
AUSTIN |
Portland Timbers |
7:30pm |
|
|
Sat., July 18 |
Minnesota Thunder |
AUSTIN |
7:05pm |
|
|
Sat., July 25 |
AUSTIN |
Montreal Impact |
7:30pm |
|
|
Thu., July 30 |
Charleston Battery |
AUSTIN |
6:30pm |
|
|
Sat., Aug. 1 |
Carolina Railhawks |
AUSTIN |
6:00pm |
|
|
Sat., Aug. 8 |
Rochester Rhinos |
AUSTIN |
6:35pm |
|
|
Sun., Aug. 16 |
AUSTIN |
Minnesota Thunder |
6:00pm |
|
|
*Sun., Aug. 23 |
Montreal Impact |
AUSTIN |
2:45pm |
|
|
Sat., Aug. 29 |
AUSTIN |
Miami FC |
7:30pm |
|
|
Wed., Sept. 2 |
Vancouver Whitecaps |
AUSTIN |
9:30pm |
|
|
Sat., Sept. 5 |
Miami FC |
AUSTIN |
7:00pm |
|
|
Mon., Sept. 7 |
AUSTIN |
Portland Timbers |
6:00pm |
|
|
Fri., Sept. 11 |
Portland Timbers |
AUSTIN |
9:00pm |
|
|
Sun., Sept. 13 |
Vancouver Whitecaps |
AUSTIN |
6:00pm |
|
|
*Nationally televised on Fox Soccer Channel |
http://www.kvue.com/sports/stories/012109kvueaztex-mb.177cefae.html |
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