Today starts the state high school girls tournament: http://www.mhsaa.com/sports/gso/index.htm

Upcoming on the CBC: On Saturday, May 31 at 12:00 p.m., they will have "Soccer Day in Canada," similar to the "Hockey Day in Canada" broadcasts of the past few years, showing various reports about the sport in the True North Strong and Free. This might be an interesting watch. Following that, at 3:30 p.m., is the Los Angles at Toronto game.

The Michigan Hawks W-League team is 1-1 after their opening weekend. The loss was 5-0 to the FC Indiana Lionesses, which is a fully-pro team in the W-League. (There is also a fully-pro PDL team, Vancouver Whitecaps Residency).
FC Indiana, Vancouver open new era
Professional W-League and PDL sides begin play this weekend
http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/248650.html

I see that the USA will be hosting high school graduations, even if these will only be a one-off for this year. Hmmmm... I wonder if they'll need a Supporters Section for these events. (It does say, "Bleachers available for public seating," ya' know....)

Pontiac News Page
http://www.pontiac.mi.us/info/news.html

Graduation Flyer
http://www.pontiac.mi.us/pdf/2008graduationschedule.pdf

DDA Home Page
http://www.pontiac.mi.us/departments/dda_home.html

Text:

The Downtown Development Authority CONGRATULATES THE 2008 GRADUATES

BIRMINGHAM GROVES
PONTIAC NORTHERN
PONTIAC CENTRAL
LAKE ORION

The following Graduation Ceremonies will take place at The Ultimate Soccer Arena* located at 867 South Blvd Pontiac, MI 48341 (between Opdyke & MLK Blvd)

Dates and Times are listed below:

Birmingham Groves High School: Sunday June 1, 2008 at 1pm
Pontiac Northern High School: Wednesday June 4, 2008 at 6pm
Pontiac Central High School: Thursday June 5, 2008 at 6pm
Lake Orion High School: Friday June 6, 2008 at 7:00pm

These are ticketed events with assigned seating for ticket holders. Bleachers available for public seating.

*Due to the unfinished construction for the replacement of the Phoenix Plaza Amphitheater roof, the location for these graduations has been moved to an enclosed facility in Pontiac.

The City of Pontiac and the Downtown Development Authority welcome the return of these School Districts and others to the Phoenix Plaza Amphitheater for 2009 Graduation Ceremonies.

"Downtown Pontiac, You'll Be Glad You Came"

The MHSAA Girls Soccer tournament has reached the semi-finals. One of the division 4 semi's will be held at USA:

Girls Soccer Semifinals
http://www.mhsaa.com/sports/gso/08reg.html

Girls Soccer Home
http://www.mhsaa.com/sports/gso/index.htm


2008 Finals
June 14

at Troy Athens
Division 4 - Noon
Division 1 - 2:30 p.m.

at East Kentwood Middle School
Division 3 - Noon
Division 2 - 2:30 p.m.

Most of the local colleges have announced their 2008 schedules. I've compiled the list of NCAA-I schools in Michigan

Big Ten Men

Big Ten Women

Mid American Conference Men

Mid American Conference Women

Horizon League Men

Horizon League Women

Summit League Men

Summit League Women

University of Michigan Men
Exhibition opener: Sat, Aug 16; Connecticut; Ann Arbor, Mich.; 7:30 p.m.
Official opener: Fri, Aug 29; Wisconsin-Green Bay; Ann Arbor, Mich.; 7 p.m.

University of Michigan Women
Opener: Fri, Aug 22; Notre Dame; Ann Arbor, Mich.; 7 p.m.

Michigan State University Men
Schedule
Exhibition opener: Sat. August 23; LOUISVILLE (ex.); East Lansing, Mich.; 7 p.m.
Official opener: Fri. August 29; ST. FRANCIS (Pa.); East Lansing, Mich.; 5 p.m.

Michigan State University Women
Schedule
Exhibition opener: Fri. August 22; at Oakland (Ex.); Rochester, Mich.; 4 p.m.
Official opener: Fri. August 29; at DePaul; Chicago, Ill.; 4 p.m.
Home opener: Fri. September 5; EASTERN MICHIGAN; East Lansing, Mich.; 4 p.m.

Note: MSU has the brand new DeMartin Soccer Complex at Old College Field. The 2008 campaign will be the first in the new soccer complex, which was made possible by a donation from Doug and Valerie DeMartin.

Western Michigan University Men
no schedule posted

Western Michigan University Women
Exhibition Opener: Thu, Aug 14; IUPUI (Exhibition); Kalamazoo, Mich.; 3 p.m.
Official Opener: Fri, Aug 22; Wyoming Kalamazoo, Mich.; 11 a.m.

Central Michigan University Women
Opener: Fri, Aug 22; Detroit; at Detroit, Mich.; 3 p.m.
Home Opener: Fri, Sep 12; IPFW; Mount Pleasant, Mich.; 4 p.m.

Eastern Michigan University Women
Opener: 8/24/2008; Michigan; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Noon
Home Opener: 8/29/2008; IPFW; Scicluna Field; 5 p.m.

University of Detroit-Mercy Men
Schedule
Exhibition Home Opener: August 23; SAT.; NORTHWOOD (EXH.); DETROIT, MI; 1:00 p.m.
Official Home Opener: September 19; FRI.; MICHIGAN; DETROIT, MI; 5:00 p.m.

University of Detroit-Mercy Women
no schedule posted

Oakland University Men
Exhibition Opener: AUG. 19; TUESDAY BOWLING GREEN (Exhib.); ROCHESTER 3 P.M.
Official Opener: AUG. 29; FRIDAY OREGON STATE (Ultimate Sports Arena); PONTIAC 7 P.M.
NOV. 14-16; FRI.-SUN.; SUMMIT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT; ROCHESTER; TBA

OU\'s Steve Clark Elected Student Body President

Oakland University Women
Exhibition Opener: Aug. 15; Friday; NORTHERN ILLINOIS (Exhibition); ROCHESTER; TBD
Opener: Aug. 22; Friday; MICHIGAN STATE; ROCHESTER; 4:00 p.m.

Also, less than a month-and-a-half from boy's soccer season:

MHSAA Boys Soccer

First Contest -- August 18
District Tournament -- October 13-18
Regional Tournament -- October 21-25
MHSAA Semifinals -- October 29
MHSAA Finals -- November 1

2008 Finals
Nov. 1
Division 1 and 4 - Troy Athens
Division 2 and 3 - East Kentwood Crestwood MS

Just a note saying that Bucks games continue to be shown on CMN-TV (Community Media Network) in eleven cities in South Oakland County (Comcast 52, WOW 18).

http://www.cmntv.org/saturday.html

This Saturday might be the last airing of the Cleveland City Stars game from the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. I already submitted some games (that I shot on my single cam) to air, probably starting next Saturday.

When I have even more umption for this, I'll look at putting game highlights on the web somewhere.

Big Ten Soccer, on Big Ten Network

With the BTN now available (starting today) on Comcast, more people could see the Big Ten soccer games. Schedule is at the Big Ten Sports Page


Find your Comcast channel

Men's soccer of the state teams:

9/27, Michigan at Wisconsin, 4:30 p.m.
10/18, Michigan State at Michigan, 2:00 p.m.
11/2, Northwestern at Michigan State, 1:00 p.m.

Women's soccer of the state teams:

9/28, Iowa at Michigan State, Noon
10/19, Michigan at Northwestern, 4:00 p.m.