The University of Maine has unveiled major upgrades to its Orono campus athletics facilities, including renovations to the Shawn Walsh Hockey Center and Alfond Arena and a new $27 million complex for soccer and track and field.
The New Balance Track & Field and Soccer Complex is 31,000 square feet and features a state-of-the-art turf field, new lights for night games and new scoreboards.
It's a significant upgrade for the varsity women's soccer team, which has won back-to-back America East tournaments, said athletics director Jude Killy.
"For the last dozen or so years, our varsity women's soccer team has been playing in the outfield of our of our baseball stadium, so on astroturf, but in baseball," he said. "So it's their own dedicated field, 100% dedicated to women's soccer."
Track and field teams will be able to host meets in the spring. And the men's and women's' hockey teams will have equal space.
Killy said it's a key step towards the goal of making the university a top five Division I program in New England.
"That'll really help elevate the opportunity for us," he said. "The playing venues, who we're recruiting, how we're recruiting, the way we show all those things, I expect will be a major shot in the arm to our competitiveness as well."
The Black Bears played their first soccer match on the new field Thursday, and the first varsity hockey game in the renovated arena is scheduled for Oct. 10.
Construction on the track and field complex will be completed in late October and the first events are scheduled for the spring season.
