Fetzer Field
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| Full name | Irwin Belk Track at Robert Fetzer Field |
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| Location | South Rd, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA |
| Owner | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Operator | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Capacity | 5,025 |
| Surface | Field: Natural grass Track: Full-depth Polyurethene ISS 2000 encapsulated |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1935 |
| Renovated | 1988–1990 |
| Tenants | |
| North Carolina Tar Heels (NCAA) 1935- | |
Robert Fetzer Field is a sports field located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and home field to the lacrosse and soccer teams of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The four teams that call Fetzer field their home have a combined total of 26 national championships.
Fetzer Field was built in 1935 and named for Bob Fetzer, the school's first full-time athletic director. The original part of the complex, including the track, grandstand and field, was built in 1935 as a part of the government's Works Projects Administration (WPA). The construction provided jobs to the people living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Renovations began in 1988 when the playing field was redone and several additions were made, which included two new ticket booths, new bleachers and a concession stand.
The first team to play on the field was the men's soccer team after its inception in 1947. They played alone for two years until the inception of the men's lacrosse team in 1949. These teams would call Fetzer home for three decades before the women's soccer team was created in 1979. At the time 24-year-old Anson Dorrance was named head coach of both the men's and women's soccer teams. He continued to coach both teams until 1989 when he started solely coaching the women's soccer team. Dorrance is still the women's coach, and the winningest soccer coach in the nation.
Men's and women's lacrosse, both national champions in the past, also play on Fetzer Field on spring days. The men's program has won multiple NCAA Championships: 1981, 1982, 1986, and 1991. The lady Tar Heels won the NCAA Championship in 2013 in a triple-overtime win over the multiple-championship program from the University of Maryland. Both are perennially very competitive programs.
Fetzer Field has been the home field to multiple players that would eventually play professionally or for the national team. Fetzer is especially famous for its women's soccer players. The following players have been named national player of the year for women's soccer:
Debbie Keller- 1995 1996, Stacie Wilson- 1995, Cindy Parlow- 1996 1997 1998, Robin Confer- 1997, Lorrie Fair- 1999, Meredith Florence- 2000, Lindsay Tarpley- 2003, Catherine Reddick- 2003, Heather O'Reilly- 2006, Yael Averbuch- 2006, Casey Nogueira- 2008, Whitney Engen- 2009 In the 2011 Women's World Cup two UNC women's soccer players, Tobin Heath and Heather O'Reilly, saw the playing field. In December 2011 six former Tar Heels – Tobin Heath, Heather O'Reilly, Yael Averbuch, Ashlyn Harris, Megan Klingenberg – were called up to play at the National Team camp. All these players spent their collegiate careers at Fetzer Field and regularly come back to watch games played there.
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