Pac-12 Networks Announces Fall Olympic Talent Line-up for Fourth Season of Live Event Coverage
Former Olympian and Bay Area native Aly Wagner to appear on women’s soccer telecasts
SAN FRANCISCO (August 21, 2015) – Pac-12 Networks today announced its fall Olympic talent lineup of expert broadcasters who will cover a total of 211 live events in men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, field hockey, men’s water polo, and cross country. In addition to the slate of returning on-air talent, Aly Wagner joins the Pac-12 Networks on-air talent roster as a women’s soccer analyst.
Wagner is a former U.S. Women’s National Team player, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women’s World Cup athlete. Wagner was a midfielder for the USWNT from 1999-2008, and also a member of the 2003 and 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup teams where she won two bronze medals. After her first World Cup, Wagner was part of the 2004 Olympic team in Athens and the 2008 Olympic team in Beijing. As the first selection in the 2003 Women’s United Soccer Association Draft, Wagner played several years professionally, including with the Los Angeles Sol. Wagner spent her collegiate career at Santa Clara, where she was named the Hermann Trophy winner as the country’s top women’s soccer player. She also earned an NCAA Top VIII award, an honor handed out to only the top eight student-athletes across all NCAA divisions and sports. Wagner earned first-team All-America status as a senior and junior. Wagner also led the Broncos to the NCAA Championship during her junior year, where she scored the game winning goal for Santa Clara’s first ever NCAA title.
Play-by-play announcer JB Long and analyst Krista Blunk are set to kick off the Networks’ live event telecast schedule with a women’s soccer contest on Friday, August 21 at 7 p.m. PT with Oregon taking on LSU at home (only on Pac-12 Oregon). Long also pairs up with Kyndra de St. Aubin for Beijing Normal at Arizona State on Sunday, August 23 at 11 a.m. PT, airing on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Arizona. Later that day, Jim Watson and Tammy Blackburn will be in Tucson as Santa Clara faces off against Arizona at 6 p.m. PT, exclusively on Pac-12 Arizona. Rich Cellini, Christian Miles, Jim Watson, Rich Burk, Ann Schatz, Troy Clardy and Daron Sutton complete the Networks’ play-by-play team, with Christopher Sullivan and Temryss Lane adding the analysis. Each Pac-12 team will be featured at least six times on the Networks, with UCLA and Washington leading the way with 12 appearances. In total, women’s soccer will represent 69 telecasts from the Networks’ fall schedule.
On the men’s side, Oregon State opens the telecast schedule on Friday, August 28 at 5 p.m. PT with Oregon State hosting Marquette on Pac-12 Oregon. UCLA alumnus and former MLS player Cobi Jones will continue to cover all the action on the Networks alongside analysts Sullivan and Kelly Gray. Cellini and Long continue play-by-play duties, along with Miles, Watson, Burk and Clardy.
Women’s volleyball coverage begins on Friday, August 28 at 6 p.m. PT, with Stanford leading off a SEC/Pac-12 match as they host Texas A&M on Pac-12 National and Pac-12 Bay Area. North Carolina vs. USC will follow at 8 p.m. PT on Pac-12 National and Pac-12 Los Angeles, the first night of a back-to-back tournament. The following night features BYU, the NCAA national runner-up last season, visiting the Trojans at home. Three-time Olympian Holly McPeak and veteran play-by-play announcer Anne Marie Anderson also return to the Networks’ coverage of 92 women’s volleyball games. Each Pac-12 team will appear on the Networks at least five times (home or away) in 2015, with Stanford leading the way with 19 appearances.
Kara Lentz and Leah Secondo will team up to cover the Networks’ three-game women’s field hockey broadcast schedule, which features ranked teams in all events. The season begins on Friday, August 28 when Stanford faces Syracuse at 4 p.m. PT on Pac-12 National and Pac-12 Bay Area. The broadcast schedule closes with a big game rivalry matchup between Stanford and California on Friday, September 18 at 1:30 p.m. PT on Pac-12 National and Pac-12 Bay Area.
The nine-game men’s water polo schedule for the Networks begins with Long Beach State at USC on Saturday, September 26. Jason Knapp, Jim Watson and Kevin Danna round out the play-by-play announcing teams, with Chris Dorst and Greg Mescall providing analysis for men’s water polo telecasts.
Pac-12 Networks will also air the 2015 Pac-12 Women’s and Men’s Cross Country Championships at Pullman, WA on tape-delay Sunday, November 1. Watson will have the play-by-play assignment, with Dwight Stones as an analyst and Lewis Johnson providing sideline commentary.