GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Atlantic Coast Conference and its digital broadcast platform, ACC Network Extra, will join forces with ESPNU and Regional Sports Networks to provide extensive coverage of each of the league’s fall Olympic sports championships.
Action will begin on the morning of Friday, Oct. 26, with ACC Network Extra’s live broadcast of the ACC Cross Country Championships from Boston’s Franklin Park.
Regional Sports Networks (RSN) will cover every round of the ACC Field Hockey Championship, which is set for Nov. 1, 2 and 4 at the University of North Carolina’s Karen Shelton Stadium.
The early rounds of both the ACC Men’s and Women’ Soccer Championships will be played on the campuses of the higher-seeded teams, with host schools producing and providing coverage via ACC Network Extra. The women’s quarterfinals are set for Sunday, Oct. 28. Men’s first-round action is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 31, followed by the quarterfinals on Sunday, Nov. 4 and the semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 7,
ACC Network Extra will carry the semifinals of the ACC Women’s Soccer Championship live from Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, on the evening of Friday, Nov 2, with matches set for 5:30 and 8 p.m. starts. The finals are set for noon on Sunday, Nov. 4, on ESPNU.
Sahlen’s Stadium will also play host to the ACC Men’s Soccer Championship final on Sunday, Nov. 11, with another noon start on ESPNU.
Veteran announcer Dean Linke will be on hand to make the call of the ACC Cross Country Championships on Oct. 26, with the women’s 6K race starting the action at 10:03 a.m., followed by the men’s 8k race exactly one hour later. Linke has worked multiple championships for the ACC and other major conferences. He will be joined by analyst Miles Krieger, whose resume includes eight years as a college coach and stints as a director for numerous road races and cross country meets, including the NCAA Division II National Championships.
The ACC Field Hockey Championships play-by-play tag team will be familiar to RSN viewers. Tom Werme will handle the quarterfinals on Thursday (Nov. 1) and Sunday’s championship game, with Jeff Fischel on hand for Friday’s semifinals. Leah Secondo, a former three-sport star at the collegiate level and a leading women’s sports analyst for more than three decades, will handle color commentary throughout the tournament.
The ACC Field Hockey Championship quarterfinal games on Thursday, Nov. 1, are set for 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Friday’s semifinal games are scheduled for noon and 2:30 p.m., and Sunday’s title game is slated for a 1 p.m. start.
The ACC’s Regional Sports Networks for the 2018-19 season are comprised of FOX Sports South, FOX Sports Florida, FOX Sports Sun, FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana, NESN, YES Network, AT&T SPORTSNET Pittsburgh and NBC Sports Washington.
Mike Watts is slated to handle play-by-play for the ACC Women’s Soccer Championship semifinals and final, with Cat Whitehill returning as color commentator. Watts’ background includes work with Major League Soccer, CONCACAF (Champions League and Gold Cup) and various college conferences. Whitehill, a former All-American at UNC and longtime member of the U.S. National Team, boasts an extensive soccer broadcasting resume that includes the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the NCAA Women’s College Cup and a number of ACC Championships.
Watts will return for the ACC Men’s Soccer Championship final, with Devon Kerr handling color commentary. Kerr has called soccer action for USL, Concacaf and NCAA broadcasts across multiple platforms, including ESPN Networks & Sirius XM FC.