By Pierre LaBossiere
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — Soccer under the lights has arrived at Peninsula College’s Wally Sigmar Field.
First dreamed of a decade ago, the lights have been installed, tested and already hosted some practices.
Ribbon-cutting tonight
There will be a lighting ceremony at 5:30 p.m. tonight [Thursday] with a ribbon-cutting. The lights will really be put to the test Saturday evening, when the Peninsula College women host their first night game at 5 p.m. at Sigmar against either North Idaho or Portland.
This will be an NWAC quarterfinal playoff game with the winner moving on to the soccer Final Four at the Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila on Friday, Nov. 9.
The lights were put up last week and deemed ready to go after a week of testing.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that it’s going to be awesome,” said Rick Ross, Peninsula’s Associate Dean of Athletics and Student Programs.
The lights had been planned since 2010 but the school didn’t have the financing in place to put them in for a few years.
Ross said that last year, the funding was secured for the $900,000 project. He got a phone call from Deb Frazier, the then-vice president for facilities at Peninsula College, who told him, “looks like we’ll be able to put lights on your soccer field.”
The lights were tested for a few days this week and passed all their tests. Sequim and Port Angeles high school soccer teams have already practiced under the lights.
Ross said the lights will not only allow Peninsula to play evening games, but will allow Sigmar to be used more as a venue for high school and youth games. Peninsula already hosted a “friendly” last season between the Sequim and Port Angeles boys teams during spring break and has hosted district playoff games in the afternoon in the past.
It might also mean that Sigmar could host some area high school playoff matches in the future. The WIAA requires that playoff matches be played on turf fields and Sigmar is the only regulation-sized turf field around other than Forks’ Spartans Stadium.
Ross said one of the biggest concerns is that the lights would cause glare off the field and could possibly even be a traffic hazard, but during tests it was found “that there’s very little [light] bleed” off the field.
Ross said if the community and area schools use the field more than they have, there isn’t that much of an issue with wear and tear. The field turf has a expected life span of 10 to 12 years. But, there could be a problem with players dropping gum or Gatorade on the field and damaging it that way.
“That’s a bigger issue than wear and tear,” he said.
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
