Louisville, KY – For decades AstroTurf has dominated the Field Hockey market and this still holds true today. No greater example of this can be found than at the NCAA DI Field Hockey Final Four being played this weekend. The four remaining teams are all members of the AstroTurf family and the matches will even be played on an AstroTurf surface at the University of Louisville.
The teams are all amazing and are all AstroTurf customers from way back. Princeton plays their home matches on an AstroTurf 12 system on top of an ELayer®. The Princeton and AstroTurf relationship has definitely been a strong one as this is Princeton’s 3rd AstroTurf field in the last 35 years. In 2012, the Tigers took home the NCAA title while playing the finals at Old Dominion University on AstroTurf. Finalist Wake Forest won three straight titles from 2002 to 2004. They updated their AstroTurf surface with an AstroTurf System 90 just three years ago.
Two legendary coaches and hockey programs round out the remaining field. Coach Karen Shelton and the North Carolina Tar Heels are seeking their seventh national championship. AstroTurf built a new field for UNC on a new site this year. The Tar Heels finished the season undefeated on the new turf that comes from the AstroTurf Poligras line of products. Not to be outdone, Coach Missy Meharg and the Maryland Terrapins enter the tournament seeking their eighth national championship. The Terps will be updating their home field in 2019 as they have once again committed to the inventor of synthetic turf by selecting AstroTurf System 90.
A quick scan of the list of DI Field Hockey Champions over the last 35 plus years reveals an overwhelming majority of the winners and even the runners up are AstroTurf customers. On top of that, no one seems to be able to remember when the DI Championships were played on any surface other than AstroTurf. This most likely hasn’t occurred since the seventies.
“When we step back and just look at all of the great fields that we have installed at top-flight institutions, it does give us a great sense of pride and accomplishment,” said AstroTurf Director of Field Hockey Andy Belles. “It may seem like shameless bragging but we work very hard all year for our customers to get to this week and we are very excited to be a part of their successful seasons. We are very appreciative for the confidence and trust that our customers have placed in us.”
AstroTurf® has a long history of innovation and leadership in the hockey world. It’s the brand that changed the sport. And it’s the sport that has shaped AstroTurf’s history. AstroTurf’s specialized knitting equipment and manufacturing history has kept AstroTurf at the very top of the hockey world’s elite surfacing. It is the preferred surface for Field Hockey as demonstrated by every DI Final Four tournament being played on AstroTurf since the game left natural grass. To drive that point even further, AstroTurf has 29 fields in North America certified by the FIH… all other synthetic turf providers have 2 combined.
The NCAA semi-finals begin on November 16th at 1:00 PM with North Carolina going against Wake Forest. At 3:45 PM, Maryland will face Princeton. The championship will take place on Sunday, November 18th at 1:00 PM. No one knows who will win the championship yet, the only certainty is that it will be an AstroTurf family member and that the game will be played on a premium AstroTurf surface. Champions play on AstroTurf!
About AstroTurf®: For athletes and sport enthusiasts, AstroTurf® has redefined the way the game is played. The brand offers advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority, and safety. To learn more, visit AstroTurf’s website at www.astroturf.com.