EDISON, N.J. - The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) has announced the ESPN television schedule for the 2012-13 athletics season. Marist is slated to host six events that will be broadcast on the ESPN Family of Networks.
Men's and women's cross country will be the first to compete on national television as the MAAC Cross Country Championships at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World will be shown on ESPN3 on Saturday, Oct. 27.
The Marist women's basketball team will play the first home event on ESPN as its season opener versus Vermont on Friday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. will be aired on ESPN3. The MAAC Preseason Awards Shows will also be hosted that day from McCann Arena. The Coaches' Preseason Poll will be announced along with the Preseason Player of the Year, and the Red Foxes will raise their MAAC Championship banner in a pregame ceremony.
That same weekend, Marist will host the MAAC Men's Soccer Championships at Tenney Stadium. The championship game, scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 10, will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
The men's basketball team will appear on national television three times over a four days stretch during Thanksgiving break when they take part in the Old Spice Classic Nov. 22-24 down at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney. At noon on Thanksgiving Day, the Red Foxes will play West Virginia on ESPN2. Depending on the outcome of that game, they will take on either Vanderbilt or Davidson the following day on ESPN or ESPNU. After a day off, Marist will play a third opponent on Sunday, Nov. 25 on one of either ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN3.
ESPN returns to McCann Arena in January for the Saturday, Jan. 19 men's basketball MAAC game versus Saint Peter's at 7 p.m on ESPN3. The Red Foxes will be back on the national scene just five days later when they travel to Fairfield for a 7 p.m. matchup on Jan. 24 on ESPN3.
The women's basketball team will compete on ESPN3 when they play at Manhattan on Jan. 25 in a 4 p.m. matchup. In last season's game at Draddy Gymnasium, the Jaspers handed the Red Foxes their only conference loss.
On Friday, Feb. 15, Marist will host a basketball doubleheader with Niagara at McCann Arena. The women will play the Purple Eagles at 5 p.m. on ESPNU while the men will follow at 8 p.m. on ESPN3. Last season, Niagara and Marist played two, very tightly contested games on the women's side. The two teams played a double-overtime thriller at Niagara last February, with the Red Foxes emerging with a 79-77 victory. In the semifinals of the MAAC Tournament, Marist survived a scare, overcoming a 13-point, second half deficit to win 68-54 in overtime.
Two days later, the men will play on the road at Rider in a 4 p.m. game that will be broadcast on ESPN3.
Friday, March 1 is marked as a wildcard date on the schedule with time slots available at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 and 9 p.m. on ESPNU. Marist's men's basketball game at Siena on that day has been listed as one of the three possibilities to fill one of those slots.
The men will host Fairfield on the final day of the regular season, Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m. The game, which will include the Red Foxes' senior day ceremony prior to tip-off, will be broadcast on ESPN3.
The MAAC Basketball Championships return to the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass. ESPN3 will air the women's semifinals on Saturday, March 9 as well as the men's quarterfinals and semifinals games on March 9-10. The women's title game will take place on Mar. 11 at noon on ESPNU, while the men's final will occur at 9:00 p.m. on either ESPN or ESPN2.
Become a fan of Marist Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/GoRedFoxes and follow us on Twitter @MaristAthletics.
