The University of Richmond and the Spider athletic department have broken ground on a new team support facility at Crenshaw Field, the home of Spider field hockey this summer. Construction began on the facility this past April and it is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2019 season.
“This new team facility will be a fantastic addition and improvement for our Spider field hockey program,” Vice President and Director of Athletics John Hardt said. “The history of Richmond field hockey and Crenshaw Field is long and storied; and now, due to some very generous support from our Spider Field Hockey community, we are able to make a transformational improvement to our team facility. This new facility will help Spider field hockey in many ways and its construction continues our core principle of providing the best student-athlete experience possible in each of our varsity programs.”
The new support facility at Crenshaw Field will include home and visiting team rooms, spectator restrooms, a press box and filming positions, along with enhanced landscaping for a new entrance into the facility from Crenshaw Way. The facility will make Crenshaw Field one of the top in the Atlantic 10 Conference and fittingly will host the 2019 A-10 Field Hockey Championships in November.
"We are incredibly excited for the new building at Crenshaw field” head coach Jamie Montgomery said. “This building is an amazing tribute to the field hockey program. It is a true testament to the support that Richmond provides women’s athletics and will help create a home for field hockey on Richmond’s beautiful campus.”
The Crenshaw Field support facility continues Richmond’s emphasis into the overall facility and program in the past year and a half. Last summer, the Spiders received a new, state-of-the-art artificial turf and underground irrigation system.
Richmond is under the direction of second-year head coach Jamie Montgomery. The Spiders are set to open the 2019 season on the road at Maryland August 30 and will hold their home opener at the new facility September 8 against Bucknell.