Catch the Soccer Action on CBS and Watch as the Houston and Chicago Battle for the Cup
The excitement continues this weekend with the finale of the NWSL Challenge Cup Final. Watch on CBS or Twitch.
The NWSL Challenge Cup final is this weekend. The quarterfinals are over and they provided soccer fans with great entertainment. Chicago Red Stars battled Sky Blue FC and won 3-2, and now face Houston Dash in tournament finale Sunday at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. The Dash punched their ticket to the NWSL Challenge Cup Final, defeating the Portland Thorns 1-0 with the help of team captain Rachel Daly who scored the only goal.
Read: NWSL CHALLENGE CUP: SKY BLUE AND RED STARS ADVANCE
Player to Watch: Jane Campbell, the goalkeeper for the Houston Dash
Jenn Hildreth and Lori Lindsey will call the NWSL Championship game live on CBS and CBS All Access; Mike Watts and Jen Cooper will call championship game on Twitch for fans outside the U.S. and Canada
Aly Wagner and Alex Morgan will appear on CBS Sports HQ Pre-Game show
Read: NWSL CHALLENGE CUP: THORNS TROUNCE COURAGE & DASH PASS ROYALS TO ADVANCE
Leading by example 💪
— NWSL (@NWSL) July 22, 2020
Captain @RachelDaly3 puts @HoustonDash in the lead!
1-0 | #HOUvPOR
Tune in now on @CBSAllAccess and @Twitch.#NWSLChallengeCup pic.twitter.com/NgYQW7i5Ne
National Women’s Soccer League Commissioner, Lisa Baird, spoke with the media ahead of the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup presented by P&G and Secret final, presented by Budweiser.
“The #1 principle to keep everyone healthy and well,” said Baird who told the media that she was looking forward to the championship game. “Who could have written a better script?” The NWSL has mitigated the risks of the Coronavirus COVID-19 successfully and created a safe bubble for the teams competing.
“Life in the bubble, and competing in the bubble is intense.”
Lisa Baird, National Women’s Soccer League Commissioner
“America has now been introduced to these women,” said Baird who announced the NWSL will be rolling out a series of stories highlighting their players soon.
Want to know more about the Broadcast Talent covering the NWSL Championship?
Play-by-play announcer Jenn Hildreth and analyst Lori Lindsey will call the championship match on CBS and CBS All Access, while play-by-play announcer Mike Watts and analyst Jen Cooper will call the game on Twitch for viewers outside the U.S. and Canada. Marisa Pilla will serve as the on-field reporter, as she has for the entire tournament. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Wagner will contribute to the pre-and post-game shows on CBS Sports HQ, the free 24/7 streaming sports news network, along with CBS Sports soccer writer Sandra Herrera, and studio host Sherree Burruss. Orlando Pride and U.S. Women’s National Team player Alex Morgan will join Wagner on the pregame show on CBS Sports HQ.
Hildreth is in her sixth season as play-by-play announcer for the NWSL, having called matches across a variety of networks, including ESPN, Fox Sports and Lifetime. Hildreth is a versatile broadcaster who has covered various sports with experience as an analyst, host, reporter and play-by-play announcer in a career spanning nearly 20 years on television. She is the only female play-by-play announcer to work Fox Sports’ coverage of the last two FIFA Women’s World Cups, has called the last four NCAA Women’s College Cup Championships for ESPN, and currently serves as a play-by-play announcer for ESPN/ACC Network covering women’s college soccer, basketball and softball. Hildreth attended Emory University, where she was the goalkeeper on their soccer team and was a three-sport athlete, lettering in not only soccer, but also basketball, and track and field.
Lindsey is a former U.S. women’s national team player whose professional playing career spanned 13 years. Lindsey is one of only four players to have played in all three of the U.S. professional women’s soccer leagues. She now works in broadcast, calling NWSL, Philadelphia Union and LAFC in MLS, USL games, along with ACC and SEC games. Lindsey also travels the globe speaking, raising awareness and advocating for women’s equality and the LGBTQ community.
Watts earned his first professional broadcast assignment with the NWSL’s Sky Blue FC in 2014, calling league matches for a fifth year – the last three for NWSL media’s coverage on Verizon and Yahoo Sports. Watts has commentated premier worldwide events for ESPN, Concacaf, United Soccer League and U.S. Soccer. Beyond soccer, Watts is the preseason TV voice of the Cincinnati Bengals in addition to covering the NBA, NBA G League, WNBA and NCAA.
Cooper is the host of The Mixxed Zone, a weekly women’s soccer podcast hosted by The Beautiful Game Network, and has served as a color commentator for NWSL stream broadcasts. She was also the editorial director for the NWSL Game of the Week for the last three seasons and has served as an analyst for the NWSL College Draft since 2016. Cooper was a member of the Fox Sports research team for both the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2018 World Cup.
Pilla is a sports broadcaster working in her hometown of Philadelphia. She most recently served as the host of the NWSL College Draft for the third time, along with being the main sideline reporter for the NWSL on ESPN Game of the Week in 2019. Pilla also worked as a sideline reporter covering MLS on FS1, and for the last four seasons, has served as the pregame/postgame show host for the Philadelphia Union.
Wagner is a former U.S. women’s national team player, who won two Olympic gold medals and two FIFA Women’s World Cup bronze over her 10-year career with the USWNT. Wagner began her professional club career in 2003 after being selected as the number-one pick at the Women’s United Soccer Association Draft by the San Diego Spirit. She was in the first group of international players to be brought over by Olympique Lyonnais and then finished her career with Los Angeles Sol. After concluding her soccer career, Wagner served as a Fox Sports analyst for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and then became the lead analyst this past summer for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The year prior at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, she made U.S. English-language television history as the first woman to call a men’s FIFA World Cup game. Wagner additionally worked as the lead analyst for the NWSL Game of the Week broadcasts on Lifetime and ESPN from 2017-2019.
Source: Release
