Dec. 21, 2007

Garden City, N.Y. - Over the past six months the Adelphi soccer programs have been essentially nomadic, with the men playing their home contests at St. John's Belson Stadium and the women hosting visitors at Tully Field in New Hyde Park. However, both programs are on the precipice of big changes, the first such changes in the history of both programs.

"Since the programs inception in 1982 and my first year here in 1988 we have called Stiles Field home," Head Women's Soccer Coach Rich Ilsley said. "We've had some great games on Stiles, but I am extremely excited about our new facility and field."

The Panther's will open up the season a little over eight months from now in a new home as Adelphi completes construction on a new athletic complex which features 76,000 square feet of new space that will encompass offices, multi-purpose rooms, new training room facilities, three basketball courts and indoor jogging track and locker room space for home and visiting teams.

"We are very excited about the future of the program and university. Mr. Hartwell's hard work and perseverance through the year's as our leader has been instrumental in building the success of our prestigious soccer program," Head Men's Soccer Coach Carlo Acquista stated. "The facilities will arguably be the best in the metropolitan area and the student-athletes, coaching staff, administration, and local community are counting down the days of the grand opening of the new state of the art soccer stadium. We hope to see many of you from the local soccer community out enjoying the game and supporting our soccer programs."

The new outdoor stadium complex, which is tentatively scheduled for completion in early August, will feature an all-weather turf field that will be used for both the lacrosse as well as the women's Division II and men's Division I soccer programs, it is also lighted for the first time in the school's history, which will allow for night games and practices. The field will also feature bleacher seating for fans as well as a press box for local media and a below grade parking structure, giving the Adelphi soccer programs a huge boost after a season away from Garden City.

"Just having the ability to practice and play on campus again will help our programs," Ilsley explained. "It was tough on the kids this fall, every game was like an away contest. But after seeing the progress on the new field and the vision of the administration, without a doubt it was worth it."

Both teams are scheduled to play their home openers on the new field in early September, while the women are slated to play their first home conference match on September 24 when they host NYIT.