CSU-Pueblo soccer programs
to unveil new lighted facility Wed., Fri.
'Night Soccer Series'
Schedule
Wed., Sept. 15: Men's
Soccer vs. Montana State-Billings, 7 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 17: Women's Soccer
vs. #10 Fort Lewis, 7 p.m.
Mon., Sept. 20: Men's/Women's Soccer
ThunderPup Clinic, 5:30-7 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 24: Women's Soccer
vs. Regis, 7 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 1: Men's Soccer vs.
Regis, 7 p.m. (Women vs. Mesa State at 4 p.m.)
Fri., Oct. 8: Women's Soccer vs.
Adams State, 7 p.m. (Men vs. Colorado Mines at 3:30 p.m.)
Wed., Oct. 13: Women's/Men's
Soccer vs. UC-Colorado Springs, (Women at 4:30 p.m., Men at 7
p.m.)
PUEBLO, Colo. (GoThunderWolves.com - Sept. 14,
2010) - The first ever night soccer games in CSU-Pueblo
history will take place this week, when the Pack men's soccer team
hosts Montana State-Billings in a non-conference match Wednesday
night and the women's soccer team hosts nationally-ranked Fort
Lewis in the team's RMAC opener Friday night.
Games kick off at 7 p.m. There will be a total of six
night soccer games during the 2010 "Night Soccer Series," taking
place on Wednesday and Friday nights this season.
Tickets are $5 for adults, and $4 for seniors, K-12 students and
CSU-Pueblo staff. CSU-Pueblo students, as is the case with
all CSU-Pueblo athletics events, are granted free admission.
The night games will give the ThunderWolves the opportunity to
shatter existing attendance records. The largest crowd in
school history, with nearly 500 in attendance for the 1999 Rocky
Mountain Athletic Conference Championship vs. Fort Lewis at the
Rawlings Soccer Complex, is on target to be shattered this
week.
The night games help to make soccer games more fan-friendly.
Previously, soccer games were routinely held on late Friday
afternoons, when many would-be fans were still in class or at
work.
"The lighted complex is a great benefit for both the men's and
women's soccer programs," CSU-Pueblo Director of Athletics, Joe
Folda, said. "Night games are easier for fans to attend and
it helps eliminate our soccer student-athletes' conflicts with
classes."
The lighted complex is part of a long-term facility renewal
plan, of which lights are the first stage, Folda said. In the
coming years, the CSU-Pueblo Department of Athletics will attempt
to secure funding for a variety of other projects, which may
include new turf, stadium-seating and a new press/scoring
area. Though no other projects are officially planned at the
moment, the continued improvement of the facility is a top
priority, Folda said.
"With new facilities for a number of our programs having been
built the past few years, we are making our best effort to renovate
and modernize the soccer complex," Folda said. "It won't
happen all at once like it did at the Neta and Eddie DeRose
ThunderBowl or Massari Arena, but we are doing our best to follow
through with this long overdue project."
The lights were made possible by funding from the CSU-Pueblo
Associated Students' Government, which made soccer field lighting a
priority in their facilities improvement budget on the
campus. CSU-Pueblo ASG President, Steve Titus, said the
addition of lights can change a lot in both the health of the
soccer program as well as campus culture.
"We felt we had to do our best to make facilities resources
available for our top athletics programs," Titus said. "You
can go to a night game for any CSU-Pueblo sport except soccer, and
having night games be possible gets fans to stay on campus Friday
nights into Saturday afternoons for football games, and that can go
a long way to improving the community on campus."
A preview was held for the "Night Soccer Series" on Aug. 22,
when the men's team hosted Otero Junior College in an exhibition
game. Had it been official, the game would have come very
close to breaking school records for single game attendance, as an
estimated crowd of over 400 were in attendance.
Top CSU-Pueblo
Soccer Attendance Games
1. vs. Fort Lewis, 1999 RMAC Championship (484)
2. vs. Mesa State, 2008 (424)
3. vs. Fort Lewis, 2008 (412)
4. vs. Metro State, 1999 RMAC Semifinal (385)
5. vs. Colorado Mines, 2008 (378)
