The Petersen Sports Complex (PSC) is a sports complex on the campus of the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. It houses Charles L. Cost Field, Vartabedian Field, and Ambrose Urbanic Field, the respective home practice and competition venues of the university's

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

varsity athletic

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

, and men's and women's soccer teams. Known as the Pittsburgh (Pitt) Panthers, these teams compete in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

. The complex is located adjacent to the school's Trees Hall and Cost Sports Center near the remainder of the university's other upper campus athletic facilities.

History

The sports complex was a project that had been in development since the 1999 closure of

Pitt Stadium Pitt Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in the eastern United States, located on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1925 Pittsburgh Panthers fo ...

on the university's campus. With the demolition of the stadium, the soccer teams, track & field teams, marching band and many intramural programs of the university lost their homes. The university's

and

teams had long been playing in what had been deemed as inadequate facilities on Trees Field tucked behind the school's indoor Cost Sports Center. In the interim, the soccer teams had moved their home games to off-campus Founders Field in Cheswick. The complex was built on the former Robinson Court housing project. The land was obtained after five years of sometimes contentious negotiations between the university, a housing developer, and the City of Pittsburgh. The final cost of the site for the university was a total contribution of $7 million in payments and community contributions which doubled the 2005 bid of several developers. The land sale was formally approved and Pitt acquired the parcel in the second half of 2008. Ground was broken on the complex in the fall of that year. The estimated cost of the complex's construction is $29 million. It is named after alumnus John Petersen and his wife Gertrude who donated an undisclosed amount for its construction. The baseball field has been named Charles L. Cost Field, after an alumnus who is also the namesake of the neighboring Cost Sports Center, while the softball field has been named Vartabedian Field and the soccer field has been named Ambrose Urbanic Field. The Petersen Sports Complex hosted its first official athletic contest with a March 16, 2011 baseball game between Pitt and Kent State. Grand opening ceremonies, termed the "First Pitch Event", occurred on April 9, 2011, and featured contests involving all four sports teams that will use the facility. Following completion of the sports complex, the former baseball and softball facilities on Trees Field are planned to be turned into a new track and field complex.

Complex

The Petersen Sports Complex includes three competition and practice venues, including for baseball, softball and men's and women's soccer. In addition, the complex includes a two-story, support building that houses locker rooms for each sport as well as dedicated equipment and athletic training facilities. An indoor batting practice facility, serving both the baseball and softball teams, is also contained within the facility and is located adjacent to baseball's Charles L. Cost Field. A concessions area is located within the portion of the support building that runs along the southeast goal line of the Ambrose Urbanic soccer field. Outside of the facility, a ticket book is adjacent to an entrance plaza that contains a depiction of the University of Pittsburgh's seal in its granite surface. Within the entrance plaza is a statue of the silhouette of an athlete representing each of the fours teams that call the complex home. Behind each of these figures are plaques honoring those that contributed to the construction of the facility.

Ambrose Urbanic Field

The men's and women's soccer facility includes the 735-seat Ambrose Urbanic Field. Used for both practice and competition, the facility includes lighting and a press box. The soccer pitch uses the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

-certified "Duraspine" version of

FieldTurf FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by FieldTurf Tarkett, a division of French company Tarkett. FieldTurf is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and its primary manufacturing facility i ...

as found in

Gillette Stadium Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, United States. The stadium is southwest of Downtown Boston and 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and admi ...

and

Lumen Field Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League ...

. The first game held at the soccer facility was an exhibition played by the men's team against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on March 20, 2011.

Charles L. Cost Field

Charles L. Cost Field, baseball venue The baseball facility includes the 900-seat Charles L. Cost Field, a press box, in-ground team dugouts, bullpens, and hitting and pitching practice areas. Field Turf synthetic grass is installed in both the infield and outfield to allow for play and practice throughout the year and lighting is installed for evening games. The field has base lines and power alleys, and is to center field. The field was named after three-sport

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

and former Pitt football running back Charles L. "Corky" Cost. The scoreboard was donated by Armand C. Dellovade. The first game held at Cost Field was a 10–7 Pitt loss to Kent State on March 16, 2011. Pitt's first win at the facility was a 9–6 victory over Niagara on March 18, 2011.

Vartabedian Field

The softball facility includes the 600-seat Vartabedian Field, which features a skinned infield with an artificial grass outfield. The stadium includes team dugouts, hitting and pitching practice areas, lighting, and a press box. The first softball game played at Vartabedian Field was a 2–1 Pitt victory over

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

on March 29, 2011. Vartabedian Field hosted the Atlantic Coast Conference softball tournament for the first time from May 11 to 14, 2022.

References

External links

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