FIELD OF THE YEAR COLLEGE SOCCER
County University Soccer Stadium ( CUSS ) was built in 2001 as a joint venture between the University of South Carolina ( USC ) Upstate and Spartanburg County where the pitch is located . CUSS is part of the Louis P . Howell Athletic Complex , which in 2018 achieved SFMA Environmentally Certified Facility status . We are very proud of that achievement alone . The stadium is used for the men ’ s and women ’ s soccer teams , as well as county soccer finals and championships .
Since construction , the pitch has undergone several upgrades and adjustments to make the field a premier athletic surface . When constructed , there were specifications that were either value engineered out of installation or not specified at all . The university and our sports field team have implemented a lot of those items back into the field — such as installed drainage versus total surface drain , and irrigation renovations due to leaking and inefficient systems , among other improvements . The university does not have the major funding of some larger schools , so these types of implemented improvements fall much on the sports field team to implement . Improvements and cultural practices are completed in-house to make the CUSS one of the best soccer pitches in the Big South Conference .
In 2023 , the university and sports field team were presented a unique opportunity in that we were asked to host the U19 US Olympic Rugby team on our pitch for exhibition games with the Canadian squad . There were several issues that needed to be addressed such as field layout for runoff areas , removing existing permanent soccer goals , learning how to set up and paint a rugby pitch , and finally installing the rugby goals themselves . As a predominantly soccer-oriented field , this posed several challenges for the conversion . But , as always , the sports field team rose to the occasion and hosted amazing games of rugby on the CUSS pitch . This challenge was a great opportunity for the sports field team to excel , and there were many great compliments from the rugby coaches , teams , event organizers and fans .
— Bruce Suddeth , CSFM , director landscape servicest sportsfieldmanagementonline . com August 2024 | SportsField Management
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