2009 USL First Division Schedule Announced
Published on January 23, 2009 under USL First Division (USL-1)
Cleveland City Stars News Release
The Cleveland City Stars today announced the USL first division schedule for the 2009 season. Cleveland City opens on the road for two games at Miami FC and expansion Austin before opening the home season on Friday May 1st with a Return of the Champions Celebration Match against the Rochester Rhinos.
The Rhinos have become a friendly rival of the Stars during the past two seasons, even sending their Rochester Stampede supporters group to Cleveland to rally with the Green Army during the 2007 USL-2 playoffs. The fans again joined forces in 2008, this time sharing a tailgate prior to the launch weekend exhibition match. Rochester has advanced to the USL-1 playoffs in every season since joining the league in 1996.
The Stars next road trip on Saturday May 16th takes the team to Minnesota where Cleveland City upset the Thunder in last season's U.S. Open Cup second round. The Thunder regrouped to advance to the USL-1 playoffs before losing to eventual champion Vancouver in the first round.
The next home match on Friday May 22nd brings a familiar face to Cleveland as former Cleveland City coach Martin Rennie returns with his Carolina RailHawks to take on the Stars. This rivalry-in-the-making is sure to be an emotional match for both sides.
The rematch will take place a week later as Cleveland City travels to Cary, NC to take on Rennie's RailHawks in the first of two Stars road matches to be nationally televised on Fox Soccer Channel.
After finishing off the four game road trip, the Stars return home for the longest home stand of the season. Cleveland City will play eight consecutive home matches from June 13th through July 17th. The home stand features a return trip from Rochester and first ever trips into Cleveland from Miami FC, Vancouver, Austin, Puerto Rico and Charleston.
The home portion of the schedule concludes on Friday September 11th against the Montreal Impact on Fan Appreciation Night.
The final match of the regular season takes place at defending champion Vancouver on Friday September 18th in the second of the Stars road matches to be broadcast nationally by Fox Soccer Channel. The Whitecaps also won the First Division championship in 2006.
"We are eager to start the new challenge of facing this First Division schedule," said Cleveland City Stars General Manager Mark Geissbauer. "We are happy with the way the schedule played out and there are many new and intriguing match-ups on the schedule for this season. We have big plans in the works to take the great fan experience from the past two seasons and make it even better. We are excited to follow-up our championship season and we look to continue our two-year undefeated streak at home."
The First Division playoff format features seven teams with the Commissioners Cup champion of the regular season automatically receiving a bye into the semi-finals. The biggest change will be the expansion of the two-leg, aggregate score series format, used in earlier rounds in USL-1 since 2000, to the USL First Division Championship. It will mark the first time the format will be used for a top-level U.S.-based league since the North American Soccer League's 1970 season.
"The advancement in the quality of teams on and off the field in the USL First Division has given us the opportunity to bring this great format to the league, allowing fans of both teams to experience the championship," said USL First Division Senior Director Chris Economides. "We've seen numerous thrillers in the aggregate series format in the past eight years and we look forward to a captivating USL-1 Championship in 2009."
The first round will begin the week of September 21st with teams two, three and four matching-up with teams five, six and seven in home and away legs. The semi-final round takes place the week of September 28th. The teams will be paired with the lowest remaining seed playing the regular season champion.
The 2009 USL-1 Championship will take place October 9th through 17th. The first leg will be played either Friday, October 9th or Saturday, October 10th with the second leg taking place either Friday, October 16th or Saturday, October 17th.
This year's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup dates are scheduled for June 9th, 16th and 30th as well as July 7th and 21st. The championship will take place on Wednesday, September 2nd.
All of the Stars 15 regular season home matches will be broadcast on television, with 12 airing locally on SportsTime Ohio and three more airing nationally on Fox Soccer Channel. In all, 17 of the Stars' 30 matches will be broadcast on television with all 30 airing live over the internet on usllive.com.
"We are extremely pleased to be able to offer our fans the opportunity to witness all of our matches live," said Geissbauer. "We are delighted to partner again with STO and the addition of the FSC package will bring more national exposure and an opportunity for our fans to watch two of our most important road matches on national television. With all of the matches airing on usllive.com, we are excited to offer our fans from around the world the chance to follow the Stars all season long."
Even with the promotion to the First Division and a new stadium, the Stars will still offer a great family friendly environment for the fans. Back again in 2009 are autographs after every match and a free kids zone featuring bouncy castles, face painting and sign making. Also back are the affordable tickets, concessions and merchandise. 2009 tickets will go on sale soon at clevelandcitystars.com.
2009 Cleveland City Stars USL-1 Schedule
DAY DATE TIME (EST Time) OPPONENT TV BROADCAST* GAME DAY EVENT
Saturday April 18th 8:00pm @ Miami FC Blues
Saturday April 25th 8:30pm
@ Austin Aztex
Friday May 1st 8:00pm vs. Rochester Rhinos Fox Soccer Channel Return of the Champions Opening Night
Saturday May 9th 7:00pm vs. Portland Timbers SportsTime Ohio
Soccer Mom Night
Saturday May 16th 8:05pm
@ Minnesota Thunder
Friday May 22nd 8:00pm vs. Carolina Railhawks Fox Soccer Channel Family Fun Day
Friday May 29th 8:00pm @ Carolina Railhawks Fox Soccer Channel
Saturday May 30th 7:30pm @ Charleston Battery
Thursday June 4th 7:00pm
@ Puerto Rico Islanders
Saturday June 6th 6:00pm
@ Puerto Rico Islanders
Saturday June 13th 7:00pm vs. Rochester Rhinos SportsTime Ohio Green Army Fan Night
Thursday June 18th 7:00pm vs. Miami FC Blues SportsTime Ohio
$5 Sunny Thursday
Saturday June 20th 7:00pm vs. Miami FC Blues SportsTime Ohio
Father Soccer Day
Tuesday June 23rd 7:00pm vs. Vancouver Whitecaps SportsTime Ohio Student ID Night
Saturday June 27th 7:00pm vs. Austin Aztex SportsTime Ohio
Stars Faith Night
Friday July 3rd 8:00pm vs. Austin Aztex Fox Soccer Channel
Independence Day Party
Sunday July 12th 5:00pm vs. Puerto Rico Islanders SportsTime Ohio Cleveland Mascot Night
Friday July 17th 7:00pm vs. Charleston Battery SportsTime Ohio Host Family Appreciation Night
Wednesday July 22nd 7:45pm @ Montreal Impact
Saturday July 25th 7:35pm @ Rochester Rhinos
Saturday August 1st 7:00pm vs. Vancouver Whitecaps SportsTime Ohio Business Networking Night
Saturday August 8th 7:00pm @ Carolina Railhawks
Tuesday August 11th 7:30pm @ Charleston Battery
Saturday August 22nd 7:00pm vs. Minnesota Thunder SportsTime Ohio Team Autograph Day
Thursday August 27th 8:05pm
@ Minnesota Thunder
Saturday September 5th 7:00pm vs. Montreal Impact SportsTime Ohio
Cleveland Soccer Legends Night
Friday September 11th 7:00pm vs. Montreal Impact SportsTime Ohio Fan Appreciation Night
Sunday September 13th 8:00pm
@ Portland Timbers
Thursday September 17th 10:00pm
@ Portland Timbers
Friday September 18th 11:00pm
@ Vancouver Whitecaps Fox Soccer Channel
* All 2009 USL First Division games will also be broadcast on usllive.com
Home Matches in White & Green, Away Matches in Green & Black
USL First Division Stories from January 23, 2009
- Defender Alex Surprenant with Canada's U-20 Team - Montreal Impact
- 'Caps Quartet Earn U-20 Call-Up - Vancouver Whitecaps
- Impact To Play Home Opener May 9 - Montreal Impact
- Whitecaps Begin Championship Defence On April 11 - Vancouver Whitecaps
- Carolina RailHawks Announce 2009 USL-1 and Fox Soccer Channel Schedule - North Carolina FC
- 2009 USL First Division Schedule Announced - Cleveland City Stars
- Timbers Unveil Schedule For 2009 Season - Portland Timbers
- 2009 USL-1 season details unveiled - USL-1
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