Field of Dreams


Aug. 21, 2001 Field of Dreams New Athletic Complex at Mount Vernon Campus Provides a Home-Closer-to-Home for Colonials By Greg Licamele The Athletics Department embarks on a new journey this season as the Mount Vernon Athletic Complex becomes home for the men’s and women’s soccer teams, bringing high hopes, shorter travel time, and one of the best fields in the Atlantic 10. Gone are the one-hour treks to Loudoun County with only handful of spectators watching a match on a bumpy field. This season and forever more, a trip down Foxhall Road for players, faculty, staff, and students will lead to a real home-field advantage, predict George Lidster and Tanya Vogel, head coaches of the men’s and women’s teams, respectively. “The reputation that GW’s had is that it’s a great school, it’s a neat smaller athletic department, but they don’t have facilities,” Vogel says. “Our reputation is helped and it’s great for recruiting.” Tony Vecchione, assistant athletic director for facilities, says the soccer field, an artificial surface called “Field Turf” is a hybrid fiber instead of a carpet like Astroturf, was christened on August 15 with a team practice. The first exhibition game is scheduled for Aug. 24 at 9 am as the women face Marymount. The first regular season match is slated for Sept. 4 at 4 pm as the women compete against Howard. Vecchione adds that the locker rooms and parking garage are scheduled to be completed toward the end of September, while the area surrounding the field is outfitted with temporary measures. Lidster, in his 14th year as GW’s coach, says his team will no longer have to go to the Mall, find a patch of field, and practice. “We’ve really played on a neutral field, so the other team coming in has never been intimidated,” Lidster says. “We will have a place where we can practice, too, which is just as big as the playing advantage.” Lidster cautions that playing on a synthetic surface will be a difference his players will have to adjust to. “Once we’ve had a season on it and a spring season, where we’re training on it every day, I think by the following fall, we will have a playing advantage on it, as well,” Lidster says. Vogel, who enters her second season as coach after returning to GW following four stellar years on the field, describes the GW soccer family as “walking around like kids on Christmas. “It’s a totally different feel to have a field,” Vogel says. “It’s a tribute to former coaches that have been here, a tribute to (Director of Athletics) Jack Kvancz and (Vice President for Student and Academic Support Services) Bob Chernak, and others to get the facilities up to speed.” Four New Coaches Join Athletics Staff Helen Andrews, Women’s Tennis Head Coach Helen Andrews returns to Foggy Bottom for her third tour of duty, this time as head coach. Most recently, she served as assistant tennis professional at the Columbia Country Club under former GW coach Joe Mesmer. Andrews was formerly the assistant coach at GW during the 1998–99 season. She was a member of the team from 1994 to 1998, earning the Atlantic 10’s Most Outstanding Performer honor during the 1996–97 season. Brian Beil, Cross Country Assistant Coach After one year as assistant coach at his alma mater, East Carolina, Brian Beil moves north to join Head Coach Deb Hasfurther and her teams. A 2000 graduate of ECU, Beil implemented strength training programs, coordinated academic progress of student-athletes, and planned weekly workouts as assistant coach. As an undergraduate, Beil was presented with the 1999 Men’s Cross Country Prestigious Pirate Award for outstanding achievements in academics and athletics. Samantha Byrd, Women’s Rowing Assistant Coach Samantha Byrd is a 1999 GW graduate, four-year letter winner, and captain of the varsity eight as a senior. She will be responsible for coaching the women’s novice squad. Byrd spent the last two seasons as a graduate assistant coach for the GW second varsity eight and third varsity four. She was the recipient of a Presidential Administrative Fellow scholarship to help her pursue a master’s degree in human resource development (1999–2001). Chrissy Lombard, Women’s Lacrosse Assistant Coach Chrissy Lombard, an All-America attack player for Boston University from 1998 to 2001, will help make GW sports history as the first assistant coach for the women’s lacrosse team. The Colonials, who will begin play in March 2002 under Head Coach Jennifer Morris, bring Lombard aboard with a wealth of knowledge and accomplishment. She helped lead the Terriers to an NCAA berth in 2000, holds the BU women’s lacrosse records for goals and total points scored in three seasons, and was named the America East Conference Rookie of the Year in 1998 and Player of the Year for the 1999, 2000, and 2001 seasons. Spiders Net Abraham The Richmond women’s basketball team netted a GW star to its coaching staff by naming Taj Abraham as an assistant coach. The newest Atlantic 10 team brings the 1997 GW graduate on board as the Spiders and Colonials prepare for their first year of conference competition in the A-10’s West Division. Abraham spent last season as Head Coach Joe McKeown’s administrative assistant. Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu