Home, sweet home at Mich. State
Delays in the construction of CMU’s new field hockey complex have forced the team to play its first two home games at Michigan State University.
However, coach Cristy Freese is not using it as a crutch.
“We can’t focus on the field,” Freese said. “I look at what needs to happen today and what needs to happen tomorrow. I don’t look at the past. When we knew it wasn’t going to be ready, we deal with it and we move on.”
The Chippewas will play their “home” openers against MAC opponents Miami University Sept. 24 and Louisville Sept. 25.
The CMU Board of Trustees approved the funding for a new field hockey facility June 25, and Athletics Director Herb Deromedi said CMU President Michael Rao approved the use of FieldTurf in the second week of July. However, excavation did not begin until August 11.
“There is a timeline and timeliness are tough,” Deromedi said. “Part of that timeline is the engineering itself. The timeline was getting closer and closer, where we could see the certainty of having the field ready on time was not there.”
The next phase is putting down the e-layer, a type of cushion padding that goes underneath the actual FieldTurf.
Deromedi said a performance fee was not included in the contract because he felt the time frame was too tight already.
“When we saw the field wasn’t going to be ready, we looked to other options,” Deromedi said. “We were able to contact Michigan State and make plans to play down there.”
Deromedi said CMU will be responsible for all facets of hosting the games.
“At this point in time we haven’t talked about cost on it, but I’m not sure they are going to charge us,” he said. “We will be responsible about anything to do with setup. Anything that has to be done electrically we will set up some sort of rental, our people will go down there and announce the game.”
The Chippewas will stay in East Lansing Friday night, but the program will incur the cost of travel, which includes the rental of a bus, meals and hotel accommodations.
