sports wire
Workers put the finishing touches on a new artificial turf field in November that will extend the Panthers’ outdoor practice capabilities to nearly year-round.
Field of opportunity
A new artificial turf field means more playing time, more recruits and a plan for winning over more students to Pitt-Bradford
GLENN MELVIN ’04
By Kimberly Weinberg, Portraits editor
Spring is coming early this year for Pitt-Bradford athletics. The actual weather, of course, will be about the same, but if it’s not actively snowing, the university’s softball, baseball, soccer and lacrosse teams will be able to get out as soon as the white stuff is plowed off the long-awaited artificial turf field installed in November at the Kessel Athletic Complex. Athletic Director Bret Butler, who used to coach baseball, said baseball and softball will be the first sports to reap the benefit of the new field. With Bradford’s long winters and seasons that start in late February, the teams were on their spring break trips in Florida most years before fielders could start tracking fly balls in the sky or catching ground balls as they skipped across the diamond. winter 2024
Now it takes about an hour to plow off the field, Butler said, and then it’s open for business. Head Men’s Soccer Coach Nate Whitehurst is planning an “ID camp” to identify recruits this spring – something he’s wanted to do for years. Soccer athletes from both the men’s and
The field will be home to Pitt-Bradford’s newest spring sport, a club men’s lacrosse team that will become a Division III team during the 2024-25 academic year.
women’s teams will be able to practice in the spring, which was impossible when playing on natural grass that turned to mud under cleats. And the field will be home to PittBradford’s newest spring sport, a club men’s lacrosse team that will become a Division III team during the 2024-25 academic year. Lacrosse Head Coach Scott Gwyn is training his 17 club players to be his returning, experienced players next year. He planned to start plowing in January and have his club team play two intercollegiate scrimmages this spring. Gwyn is on track to recruit more than 10 new players by the end of this academic year, and those players are a net gain for enrollment, with players coming from as far away as California to attend a recruitment camp he PORTRAITS
9
