The New England College field hockey team will open up the 2024 season this weekend on the newly returfed Don Melander field.
This weekend will be the first time any team will play or practice on the field after a summer renovation project that took longer than expected. According to field hockey players, while construction continued into the first week of classes, there were contingency plans to hold the first home game tournament in an alternative location. The field was completed late in the week, bringing the games back to NEC.
The project completion is welcome news for athletics and Dave Decew, NEC’s Athletic Director who has been working with coaches to schedule practices off campus.
“We have five teams that use that field regularly […] you’re looking at a lot of athletes that use that space,” said Decew.
The men’s soccer team was scheduled to play Plymouth State at home on Friday but will instead play away on the Panthers home field at noon.
The turf replacement was part of a larger athletic faculty renovation project.
The weightlifting room that’s located under the basketball court in the Bridges Gym has also been upgraded. The floors were raised and there are brand new squat racks and benches.
“The plan is to call it our strength lab. It’s really going to be primarily for our varsity athletes,” said Decew. “We’ll have a new fitness center connected. That’ll be kind of for the general population.”
According to Decew, the new fitness center will be added in the fall of 2025. It will be connected to the front of the Bridges Gym and will include another gym, new locker rooms, new offices, and a lobby similar to the Lyons Center lobby.
Additional athletic upgrades include new cameras to livestream games and new shot clocks in the Bridges Gym.
The field hockey team will face off against The University of Maine-Farmington at 12 p.m. Saturday. They then play Delaware Valley University at 12 p.m. Sunday.
