Yurcak Field is a 5,000 seat

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...

on the main campus of

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

Piscataway Township Piscataway () is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, in the Raritan Valley. At the 2010 United States Census, the population was 56,044, an increase of 5,562 (+11.0%) f ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Fully acknowledged as The Soccer Stadium at Yurcak Field, it is named in honor of Ronald N. Yurcak, a 1965 All-American Rutgers Lacrosse player. The stadium opened in 1994.

History

The stadium is the official home of the

Rutgers Scarlet Knights The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus. In sports, Rutgers is famously known for being the "Birthplace of College Football", hosting the first ever intercollegiate football ...

men's and women's soccer teams. It was the home of

NJ/NY Gotham FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 201 ...

of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

until 2019 and the Rutgers men's and women's lacrosse teams from 1994 until 2013 when the Scarlet Knights' lacrosse teams moved to nearby

SHI Stadium SHI Stadium is the football stadium at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. Rutgers Scarlet Knights football, Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's lacrosse, and women's lacrosse use the venue for home games. It is located on the Busch Campus ...

. In 1999, Yurcak Field hosted a third round match of the 1999 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup between the Staten Island Vipers of the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

and the MetroStars, now the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

, of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. In 2003, the stadium hosted two matches of the 2003 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. A quarter-final match between the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

and the MetroStars and a semi-final match between

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

and the MetroStars with the MetroStars winning both matches. The facility has hosted the Division II & III NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship games in 1998, 2001, and 2002. It was also the home the

New Jersey Pride The New Jersey Pride were a men's professional field lacrosse team in the Major League Lacrosse formerly based in Piscataway, New Jersey, United States from 2001-2008. Franchise history In 2001, the first year of the league’s existence, the Pr ...

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff f ...

from 2006 through 2008. In June 2015, it was announced that Yurcak Field would receive enhanced locker rooms, a new training room and new general office space in the coming years as part of a campus wide program to upgrade Rutgers athletic facilities. In March 2019, Yurcak Field underwent a surface renovation, as the pitch was replaced with Kentucky Bluegrass, cut at 7/8 inch and placed on a sand base surface. The grass was provided by Tuckahoe Turf Farm in New Jersey. Rutgers hosted the 2019 Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament with the Semifinals and Final being played at Yurcak Field on November 8 & 10, 2019. Rutgers hosted the

2021 Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament The 2021 Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Big Ten Conference for the 2021 season held from October 31 to November 7, 2021. The seven-match tournament took place at the home side of the higher s ...

with the Semifinals and Final being played at Yurcak Field on November 4 & 7, 2021. The championship game between Rutgers and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

set a new venue record with a total of 5,103.

References

External links

Yurcak Field, Rutgers University
Rutgers Scarlet Knights Sky Blue FC NJ/NY Gotham FC Women's Professional Soccer stadiums Former National Women's Soccer League stadiums Soccer venues in New Jersey College soccer venues in the United States Lacrosse venues in the United States College lacrosse venues in the United States Former Major League Lacrosse venues Sports venues in New Jersey Sports venues in the New York metropolitan area Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Buildings and structures in Middlesex County, New Jersey Tourist attractions in Middlesex County, New Jersey Piscataway, New Jersey 1994 establishments in New Jersey Sports venues completed in 1994 {{NewJersey-stadium-stub