The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) lacrosse and field hockey teams are now playing on one of the most advanced field hockey surfaces in the world. Manufactured by AstroTurf, Poligras Platinum is a high-tech, tufted system designed to provide optimum ball surface interaction and deliver a consistent playing experience for today’s athletes. After training and competing on the field at Lions Stadium, which is the home field for the school’s soccer and football teams, the lacrosse and field hockey programs are looking forward to taking their game up a notch with their own dedicated playing surface.
This new field is particularly exciting for the women’s field hockey and women’s lacrosse teams, both of which have captured more than 10 NCAA Division III championship titles. The College of New Jersey women’s lacrosse team has earned 12 championship titles, the most recent in 2006. The women’s field hockey team has captured 11, with the most recent championship title won in 2014.
“We are thrilled with how the new turf at our field hockey and lacrosse facility turned out,” said Executive Director of Athletics Amanda DeMartino. “Aside from being beautiful, it provides not only the proper but also a state-of-the-art playing surface that we were aiming for. We are so excited for our student-athletes to be able to utilize this surface and are extremely proud of how the project turned out.”
The Poligras Platinum system that the athletes will be playing on was used at the Olympic Games in London in 2012 and in Rio in 2016, and it’s one of AstroTurf’s most widely-used products worldwide. Consisting of tufted polyethylene fibers, the field features a multidirectional closed surface that demonstrates unbeatable ball rolling behavior. It also comes with a high stitch density, which creates a much more compact appearance than other modern field hockey systems.
“We are already receiving great feedback on the performance of the field and how much athletes are enjoying the new facility,” said Melissa Twist, AstroTurf’s National Manager of Field Hockey Fields. “TCNJ has always had an exceptional field hockey program. This field is well deserved by the program’s winning history, and I’m excited to see the impact it has.”
The procurement of the new field was made possible by AstroTurf’s association with Sourcewell, a self-sustaining government agency enabled by state statute to serve its public-sector members. AstroTurf completed an end-to-end upgrade for TCNJ, installing a ball stopper and netting system with 40-foot high poles, as well as a new wireless Daktronics scoreboard using Playing Surface as their subcontractor.
The new field was installed over a base layer and a 26-millimeter elastic layer, done by ATT Sports. AstroTurf removed the old surface layer and then installed the Poligras Platinum field hockey system.
AstroTurf is recognized as the Official Artificial Surface Provider of both USA Field Hockey and the National Field Hockey Association, and a preferred supplier for FIH.