Final touches being put on field
The women’s field hockey team finally got its first chance to play at the new field hockey complex Wednesday.
Unfortunately, it was a month late.
“It was nice to get some fresh air,” said coach Cristy Freese. “The field is brand new, so it is not broken in yet. It takes some practicing and playing on it to get it in good shape.”
CMU accepted a bid from FieldTurf of $650,000 and Thomas Trionfi, director of purchasing, initially said the field would be done Sept. 13.
The Chippewas were forced to move three home games to Michigan State University because of construction delays. The Chippewas will play just four games from its 19-game schedule on the new field.
Although a scoreboard still needs to be installed prior to the Chippewas’ next home game, Clint Huhn, assistant athletics director for facilities, said the field has to be done by Oct. 22 when CMU hosts Indiana.
“It better be done, or my butt’s on the line,” he said. “Hopefully the scoreboard will be here this week and they can install it early next week.”
Moveable bleachers and a type of netting to prevent balls from being lost will round out the additions to the field. Both are temporary fixes for CMU before permanent structures are put in place.
“We do want to put in permanent bleachers and a fence around the field,” Huhn said. “That is stuff that no one gave us money for, and we are trying to figure that out.”
No special ceremony will take place prior to the first game because both Freese and Athletics Director Herb Deromedi wanted to wait until next year.
“We decided to dedicate the field next year so then we can give past players the chance to come back,” Deromedi said.
With the slow-moving construction process, the team had not practiced outside the entire season.
“The field feels good with the stick work, and it’s just exciting to be outside,” Freese said. “We have been inside since Aug. 16 and I know the players are really excited to be out there.”
Deromedi told CM Life for a Sept. 10 story many factors went into the delay of the field completion.
“There were some engineering delays after the bid was awarded. Also the weather affected the time table, as often is the case,” Deromedi said.
