Lacrosse: New FieldTurf marks renamed Sherrerd Field

But for a field that has been the home of much Princeton athletic success in the past two decades, Tiger fans will notice a few changes at the onset of this season’s men’s lacrosse team.

Reconstruction on the new field over the past year has replaced the old AstroTurf field with a new FieldTurf surface. Both lacrosse teams will continue to compete on the renamed Sherrerd Field.

During the lifetime of the stadium men’s lacrosse has played on AstroTurf, which at the time of construction was a relatively new invention for athletic fields and served as an improvement over traditional grass fields that were easy prey for poor weather.

While AstroTurf does not affect the style of play of the field hockey team, it does negatively impact the lacrosse teams. In lacrosse, the style of play, as well as the starting positions such as ground balls, makes a surface such as Astroturf difficult to play on.

Men’s lacrosse head coach Chris Bates explained that the new FieldTurf surface feels and plays closer to actual grass, which makes the change a clear upgrade for the team, so there was a necessity for the lacrosse teams to take advantage of the opportunity to change the field.

“It’s better on the minds as well as the bod[ies] of the actual players,” Bates said.

With the AstroTurf surface, Princeton continued to lag behind peers’ lacrosse programs.

“We were the only team in Division I men’s lacrosse that didn’t have FieldTurf in [its] stadium,” Bates said. “There was a growing sense that something needed to be done to improve the field.”

About a year ago, Bates said that the University Board of Trustees and the athletics department decided to finally prevent Princeton from lagging behind with its outdated facilities. The University was able to pool together the funds to improve the facility.

“I’ve been really impressed with the generosity and the action of the alumni and donors, and the University’s support in getting this done relatively quickly,” Bates said.

The new field is named Sherrerd Field in honor of John Sherrerd ’52, who graduated from Princeton with a degree in economics and later served as one of the University’s most active alumni volunteers.

The men’s lacrosse team has been practicing on Sherrerd Field since Feb. 1. With only two weeks of practice on the field, Bates explained that the lacrosse team already appreciates the upgrades.

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“There’s been an excitement on the field,” Bates said. “With the new turf there comes a new sense of pride in the team and the school after so many years on an old surface.”

Bates said the new field easily improves the ability of the team to continue the winning legacy of the stadium. “We have a fancy new stadium, and the guys are really excited to get out there,” Bates said.

Meanwhile, the displaced field hockey team is poised to compete in coming years at a new 1,500-seat stadium structure set to be finished by August of next year.

The stadium will be constructed around the currently existing Bedford Field, which until now has been used exclusively as a practice field for varsity teams.

Sherrerd Field will provide its first test for the Tigers when Princeton opens the 2011-12 season against Hofstra on Feb. 25. The women’s lacrosse team plays its first home game against Rutgers on Feb. 29.