Team Egypt visit brings new pitch to Gonzaga University

Gonzaga University will have a world class stage to entice recruits long after the clamor of the World Cup dies down.

Team Egypt began practice at Gonzaga University’s Luger Field this week on a new state-of-the-art pitch built specifically to host the Pharaohs.

Like almost every other element of the game, FIFA provides stringent guidelines and policies for the shape of the pitch players will compete or practice on. Much of the work completed this spring, in a manner of weeks, was to bring the field up to standards, said Gonzaga Facilities Director Rob Kavon.

“FIFA has pretty high standards when it comes to the type of grass we have, and in the kind of the base, and how firm the grass is, and how thick the grass is,” Kavon said. “Everything like that.”

Organizers inspected Gonzaga’s pitch ahead of placing the team to ensure the facilities were up to snuff, and identified two major issues with the old Luger Field, Kavon said. The field was not perfectly level, and the grass’s condition wasn’t the best after more than a few Spokane winters.

The contractor responsible for the work came in after the collegiate spring soccer season ended in late April and rebuilt the pitch from the base up. After reveling and pouring a new sand base, an inch and a quarter thick sod was rolled out in thick sheets. Kavon and his team only had to water and let it grow, he said.

“It was almost instantly a new field to be honest with you,” Kavon said. “With the sod being that thick, they basically call it thick enough to where you could play a match the next day on it.”

The sod came from a grower in the Moses Lake area who provided the same sod to World Cup practices and game pitches across the state. Kavon said the grass’ origins in the region’s climate will make it easier to maintain.

Lumen Field, where Team Egypt will compete, is laid with the same sod.

“That’s the biggest thing that all of these FIFA teams want to have, is they want to play on the same surface, the same kind of grass that they’re going to play their games and matches on,” Kavon said.

Kavon said the timing of the World Cup partnership came as the field was due for a renovation. As a result, the university was able to leverage funding provided by the state and FIFA to see the project through.

The university and its athletes will benefit from the facility for years to come, another reason Kavon said university leadership is grateful for the opportunity to play a role in the World Cup.

“Just to say that our athletes are playing on the same level of surface that international world-class soccer is being played on is pretty impressive,” Kavon said.