June 21, 2012

BERKELEY - The California Golden Bear field hockey team announced a 2012 competition schedule that includes four games that will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks. The Bears open the season on Friday, August 24 taking on defending national champion Maryland in the first-ever field hockey game at Maxwell Family Field to be televised.

In addition to the Maryland opener, both the home and away contests against Stanford will be televised. A non-conference contest on Aug. 31 against Northwestern will also be shown on the Pac-12 Networks. Even though field hockey is not a Pac-12 sport, with Cal and Stanford competing in the NorPac Conference, the two schools benefit with coverage from the broadcast venture that launches in mid August. In addition to the two games against Cal, Stanford's contest against Maryland and a non-conference game against Iowa will also be telecast.

The Bears, who reached a program-best ranking of No. 11 last season, will play a challenging schedule that features five other games against 2011 NCAA Tournament participants.

The Golden Bears season opens on Friday, Aug. 24 when they host the Maryland Terrapins. The Terps have won back-to-back national titles, winning the 2011 crown in an overtime thriller against North Carolina.

The Bears will play four other games against teams that were in the 2011 NCAA Tournament including road games at Penn State (Oct. 7) and Duke (Oct. 19) and their home and away contests against NorPac rival Stanford (Sept. 30 in Berkeley and the Oct. 26 regular-season finale at Stanford). Additionally, Cal will also take on three teams that were ranked in the NFHCA Top-20 during the 2011 season, playing at Indiana (Sept. 15), at Wake Forest (Oct. 21), and a home contest in Berkeley against Northwestern (Aug. 31).

In all, the Bears will play eight home games, with non-conference matches against St. Louis (Aug 27), Bryant (Sept. 3), and Drexel (Sept. 7) before jumping into NorPac action. Maxwell Family Field will also host three neutral site games with Northwestern taking on both Pacific (Sept. 2) and UC Davis (Sept. 3) after playing Cal on August 31. Drexel will also face off against UC Davis on Sept. 6, the day before playing the Bears.

The NorPac Conference tournament will be held this year in Farmville, Va. from Nov. 1-3.

Preseason exhibition games will be announced at a later date.

The Pac-12 Networks launch August 15 and will consist of one national and six regional networks devoted solely to the Pac-12. In addition to the hundreds of live televised Pac-12 sporting events, Pac-12 Networks subscribers will have access to their carrier's TV Everywhere platform, providing access to all Pac-12 Networks programming on any device through their broadband service. Fans can find out if they can get Pac-12 Networks by visiting www.Pac-12.org or by contacting their television provider.

2012 California Field Hockey Schedule

08/24/12 	vs. Maryland-TV        Berkeley, Calif. 	5:00 p.m. PT
08/27/12 	vs. Saint Louis 	Berkeley, Calif. 	1:00 p.m. PT
08/31/12 	vs. Northwestern-TV 	Berkeley, Calif. 	2:00 p.m. PT
09/02/12 	Northwestern vs Pacific Berkeley, Calif. 	1:00 p.m. PT
09/03/12 	Northwestern vs UC Davis Berkeley, Calif. 	1:00 a.m. PT
09/03/12 	vs. Bryant University 	Berkeley, Calif. 	1:00 p.m. PT
09/06/12 	Drexel vs UC Davis 	Berkeley, Calif. 	3:00 p.m. PT
09/07/12 	vs. Drexel 	        Berkeley, Calif. 	7:00 p.m. PT
09/15/12 	at Indiana 	        Bloomington, Ind. 	11:00 a.m. PT
09/16/12 	vs. Missouri State 	Bloomington, Ind. 	11:00 a.m. PT
09/28/12 	vs. Stanford *-TV 	Berkeley, Calif. 	12:00 p.m. PT
09/30/12 	at UC Davis * 	        Davis, Calif. 	        12:00 p.m. PT
10/05/12 	vs. Robert Morris * 	University Park, Pa. 	3:00 p.m. PT
10/07/12 	at Penn State 	        University Park, Pa. 	8:00 a.m. PT
10/12/12 	vs. Pacific * 	        Berkeley, Calif. 	7:00 p.m. PT
10/14/12 	at Pacific * 	        Stockton, Calif. 	1:00 p.m. PT
10/19/12 	at Duke 	        Durham, N.C. 	        3:00 p.m. PT
10/21/12 	at Wake Forest 	        Winston-Salem, N.C. 	9:00 a.m. PT
10/23/12 	at Stanford *-TV 	Stanford, Calif. 	7:00 p.m. PT
10/26/12 	vs. UC Davis * 	        Berkeley, Calif. 	7:00 p.m. PT