Finnesey Field Facelift Construction Completed

Finnesey Field received a huge upgrade this summer. Starting June 6, construction for a new turf field on Finnesey Field began and was completed on August 31. Finnesey Field will be home to four field sports for the 2008-09 season.

The new turf is TigerTurf. It is approved by FIFA, the main ruling body of the world's game, soccer. Additionally, the surface provides adequate use for lacrosse as well. The field was completed on August 31st in time for the soccer seasons to commence.

The women's soccer team takes on Saint Peter's under the lights at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The men's soccer team will face off against Navy on September 12 at 7:30 p.m. following the women's soccer game against Lehigh at 5:00 p.m.

"The women's soccer program is excited for the opportunity to play on a surface that is conducive to soccer," said head coach Jess Reynolds. "We are excited to have a premier facility for the student athletes, we now have a facility that is competitive we the schools in the region. With the addition of the field and all of the [additional renovations to existing] facilities, it will help tremendously with recruiting."
 
The former turf on the field was laid in 2001 showed signs of aging due to constant wear and tear. Home to the men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams as well as the field hockey squad, the field itself has been home to the Hawks for all those sports including recreation and intramural sports and short stints by the baseball and softball teams and the now defunct football squad.

The Finnesey Field Track will be resurfaced as part of the renovations in the Spring of 2009. The track opened in conjunction of the stadium in 1929, which was to be used for a 70,000-seat football stadium. Although not used for any track competitions, the track does serve as the main practice facility of the men's and women's track & field squads.

Alternatively, the field hockey team will not use Finnesey Field and play its games at Drexel University's Buckley Field this year in wait of its new field across City Avenue at the current Episcopal Academy football field on the newly-named Maguire Campus in 2009. That field space will also house the SJU softball team, which are tentatively set to play on campus in the Spring of 2009 or 2010.

Construction is was done by Sport Construction Group--the installers of the turf field at M&T Stadium, home of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens.

About TigerTurf
FIFA endorses the use of TigerTurf's advanced range of synthetic grass football/soccer surfaces. They are unaffected by any weather, manufactured to exacting national and international standards and cleverly designed to ensure optimum control over across-the-ground ball speed, bounce and passing accuracy. Remarkably even and natural in appearance and in-filled with specially graded sand and rubber to achieve a range of performance specifications. TigerTurf provides a sure-footed, shock-absorbing surface that cushions impact and protects players' physical safety.

TigerTurf is an accredited licensee of the FIFA Quality Concept. All TigerTurf's football/soccer products are laboratory tested to national and international standards. Using exclusive new yarns with innovative manufacturing methods, the most realistic and natural looking artificial grass surfaces ever produced for football are now available. In terms of toughness, they are also able to take all the stomping (and skids from studded boots) that teams can throw at them--season after season. This has been proven time and time again in the many TigerTurf installations already completed throughout Australia and worldwide.

High performance and low maintenance, TigerTurf now offers every club a first class (and surprisingly affordable) turnkey solution that is made-to-order and backed by expert design, installation, construction and ongoing service support and a full manufacturers product warranty.

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