SALT LAKE CITY - Real Salt Lake now prepares for a full slate of weekend action in Florida, first facing the Columbus Crew Thursday at the University of South Florida in Tampa at 5:00 p.m. MT in the third annual Tom Fitzgerald Memorial Match. The game will be broadcast live on-line at TheCrew.com, with Dwight Burgess and former RSL forward Dante Washington calling the action.
Fitzgerald, a close friend of RSL Head Coach John Ellinger throughout both men's coaching careers, was the second head coach in Columbus Crew history (1996-2001), was killed in a motorcycle accident in December 2004. All proceeds of the match will go to the Tom Fitzgerald Memorial Scholarship Fund, established in his honor at the University of Tampa, where he was coaching at the time of his death. UT is hosting the match, but its Pepin Stadium is undergoing renovations, forcing the game to be played across town at USF this year. </p>
Donations can be sent to: Tom Fitzgerald Memorial Scholarship Fund, University of Tampa, 401 W. Kennedy Blvd. Box I, Tampa, FL 33606. For further information, please contact University of Tampa head men's soccer coach Adrian Bush at 813-253-6240 ext. 3407 or 3184. </p>
RSL emerged victorious in the first Fitzgerald Memorial match in 2005, winning 2-0, but dropped a 0-1 decision to the Crew last preseason. </p>
