Photo by: ©WFU/Ken Bennett
Wake Forest Installing New Turf Surfaces at Truist Field & Kentner Stadium
2/10/2023 10:00:00 AM | Field Hockey, Football, General
“We are grateful to Deacon Club members and fans who help ensure that we have the ability to regularly refresh a most critical element of both student-athlete experience and safety." -- John Currie
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Fresh off an 18th NCAA tournament appearance and seventh-straight bowl season, Wake Forest field hockey and football, respectively, will both see new playing surfaces installed this spring as part of the ongoing Wake Forest commitment to providing a World Class Student-Athlete Experience.
"We are looking forward to the new playing surfaces being installed by AstroTurf at Kentner Stadium and FieldTurf at Truist Field," Assistant Director of Facilities Operations Chris Williams said. "The quality of work and customer service provided by these vendors has been excellent, and I am excited to have them bring their industry leading products to our football and field hockey fields."
"I am incredibly grateful for the generous support our program has received in order to enhance the playing surface of Kentner Stadium," said head coach Jennifer Averill. "The turf field is top-of-the-line and is FIH-certified, which meets the highest standards required for domestic and international competition. The 2023 squad looks forward to practicing and competing on this world-class facility in the upcoming season.
In addition to being home to the three time national champion Demon Deacon field hockey program, Kentner Stadium is in daily use by Wake Forest club and intramural sports programs and the Wake Forest men's and women's track and field programs. The track itself is scheduled for resurfacing in 2024.
"Both these surfaces have been well used and have reached the end of their service lives," director of athletics John Currie said. "We are grateful to Deacon Club members and fans who help ensure that we have the ability to regularly refresh a most critical element of both student-athlete experience and safety. Led by Vice President Facilities and Campus Services John Shenette, our University facilities staff do an incredible job of providing and maintaining state-of -the-art competition surfaces which quite literally are the foundation on which our student-athletes compete and train to Win Championships."
"Wake Forest's commitment to facilities has helped our program over the last nine years and this project is no different," head coach Dave Clawson said. "I greatly appreciate our administration's commitment to our players' safety with this project. Along with the McCreary Football Complex that is slated to open this spring, we continue to invest in facilities and infrastructure."
2022 Field Hockey Highlights
Wake Forest Football Overview
The Demon Deacons defeated Southeastern Conference representative Missouri 27-17 in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. on Dec. 23, 2022. The win marked Wake Forest's fifth in the last seven years since the Deacs began the Atlantic Coast Conference's second-longest bowl streak and the country's tied for the 10th-longest back in 2016.
During the Deacs current run of bowl appearances, Wake Forest has defeated two SEC teams (Texas A&M, 2017; Missouri, 2022) and a Big Ten team (Rutgers).
Head coach Dave Clawson's five bowl victories, which is the most in school history, ranks tied for fifth in ACC history for postseason wins. Clawson ranks behind Bobby Bowden (Florida State, 11), Dabo Swinney (Clemson, 11), Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech, 6) and Danny Ford (Clemson, 6). Meanwhile, he is now tied with Jimbo Fisher (Florida State, 5) and Ralph Friedgen (Maryland, 5).
The 2022 Wake Forest football team (8-5 Overall) was just the 10th in program history to win eight games in a season in the 115-year history of the program. Four of the 10 eight-win seasons have come in the Dave Clawson era (40 percent).
Since the start of the 2016 season, the Deacs are tied for the second-most wins in the ACC not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 season entering bowl season. Additionally over the last five years, the Deacs have the second-most wins in a single five-year period.
With that, the Deacs have set a new standard for success in the win column with a record of 19-8 over the last two seasons. The 19 wins in a two-year period are the second most in school history and three away from the program record of 21 set in 2006 & 2007. Additionally, Wake Forest's 19-8 record is the ninth-best mark in all of Power-5 in the last two seasons.
Offensively, Wake Forest finished the 2022 season averaging 36.1 points per game, helping the Deacs post its sixth consecutive season of averaging 30 or more points a game. This is the longest active streak and the fourth longest in ACC history. Additionally, the Deacons threw for a program record 43 touchdowns during the 2022 season.
Under Warren Ruggiero and Dave Clawson's tutelage, the last three starting quarterbacks at Wake Forest have earned All-ACC honors when they were a starter (John Wolford, 2017; Jamie Newman, 2019; Sam Hartman, 2021 & 2022).
Finally, Wake Forest is an astounding 20-4 at home since the start of the 2019 season thanks to the incredible atmosphere created by Wake Forest's fans and students inside Truist Field over the past few seasons.
"We are looking forward to the new playing surfaces being installed by AstroTurf at Kentner Stadium and FieldTurf at Truist Field," Assistant Director of Facilities Operations Chris Williams said. "The quality of work and customer service provided by these vendors has been excellent, and I am excited to have them bring their industry leading products to our football and field hockey fields."
"I am incredibly grateful for the generous support our program has received in order to enhance the playing surface of Kentner Stadium," said head coach Jennifer Averill. "The turf field is top-of-the-line and is FIH-certified, which meets the highest standards required for domestic and international competition. The 2023 squad looks forward to practicing and competing on this world-class facility in the upcoming season.
In addition to being home to the three time national champion Demon Deacon field hockey program, Kentner Stadium is in daily use by Wake Forest club and intramural sports programs and the Wake Forest men's and women's track and field programs. The track itself is scheduled for resurfacing in 2024.
"Both these surfaces have been well used and have reached the end of their service lives," director of athletics John Currie said. "We are grateful to Deacon Club members and fans who help ensure that we have the ability to regularly refresh a most critical element of both student-athlete experience and safety. Led by Vice President Facilities and Campus Services John Shenette, our University facilities staff do an incredible job of providing and maintaining state-of -the-art competition surfaces which quite literally are the foundation on which our student-athletes compete and train to Win Championships."
"Wake Forest's commitment to facilities has helped our program over the last nine years and this project is no different," head coach Dave Clawson said. "I greatly appreciate our administration's commitment to our players' safety with this project. Along with the McCreary Football Complex that is slated to open this spring, we continue to invest in facilities and infrastructure."
2022 Field Hockey Highlights
- The Wake Forest field hockey team was selected to the 2022 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Tournament, marking the Demon Deacons' 18th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and its first since the 2018 season when Wake Forest made a Final Four run. Overall, the Demon Deacons have won 31 matches at the national tournament.
- Head coach Jennifer Averill earned her eighth career ACC Coach of the Year award in 2022. Averill has also taken home the prestigious honor in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2014.
- Sky Caron and Meike Lanckohr were named NFHCA All-Americans for their outstanding performances during the 2022 season. Additionally, Caron and Lanckohr were joined by Grace Delmotte and Nat Friedman on the organization's All-Region teams.
- Caron and Lanckohr headlined Wake Forest's All-ACC honorees, landing on the first team. Delmotte, Friedman and Ellie Todd rounded out award winners as the trio received second team honors.
- This marks Lanckohr and Friedman's third-straight All-ACC honor, while Caron (2019 at Boston College) and Delmotte (2020-212) have previously received recognition from the league. Todd is one of seven freshmen in the conference to earn the first All-ACC honor of their careers.
- Wake Forest and North Carolina each placed five honorees on the all-league teams, the most in the ACC.
- The Wake Forest field hockey team was ranked No. 10 in the final 2022 National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) poll. This marked the 47th-straight NFCHA poll the Deacs have been featured in. Since the poll's inception in 2018, Wake Forest has appeared in 50 of the 51 weekly polls.
- Averill secured her 400th win as the head coach of Wake Forest Field Hockey on Friday, Sept. 16 with the Deacs' 4-3 victory against Richmond. In 31 seasons at the helm of the program, Averill holds an overall record of 411-224-3 and an overall mark of 431-256-6 in 32 years of coaching.
- The Demon Deacons' victory in the ACC Championship quarterfinals against Duke helped the 2022 squad become the first Wake Forest team since 2008 to win at least 15 matches in a season.
- The Deacs defeated three top-10 teams during the 2022 regular season, with the trio of victories coming against ACC opponents.
- In addition to its five conference victories, Wake Forest posted a 9-3 record against non-league opponents, outscoring them 34-16.
- Wake Forest posted win streaks of five (Sept. 2-Sept. 18) and six (Sept. 25-Oct. 14) this past season.
- The Deacs gave up less than two goals in its last 12 matches of the regular season. Overall, the Deacs held opponents to two goals or less in 17 matches this season.
- The Demon Deacons headed into the national tournament leading the ACC in penalty corners (134), goals off corners (18) and assists (55), while ranking second in shots and third in scoring.
- Wake Forest has outscored opponents 19-3 in the first quarter this season and found the back of the net first in all 15 of its victories.
- Meike Lanckohr and Grace Delmotte finished among the best passers in the ACC. Lanckohr entered NCAAs leading the conference in assists (13) after posting her third multi-assist of the season against Syracuse in the regular season finale. Delmotte was tied for second (12), but her assist in Friday's first round match moved her into a tie with Lanckohr for first in the league.
- Freshman goalkeeper Ellie Todd was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week twice in 2022. Todd led the ACC with six shutouts in 2022 (Ohio State, Duke, Louisville, Virginia, Brown and Duke) and ranked third in saves (51). Against North Carolina in Wake Forest's ACC opener, Todd notched a career-high 12 saves which helped the freshman become the first Demon Deacon to tally double-digit saves in a match since 2015.
- A number of Deacs were able to net goals this season as 11 players have scored multiple goals: Meike Lanckohr (10), Sky Caron (9), Hannah Maxwell (8), Ashley Hart (6), Grace Delmotte (5), Anna Gwiazdzinski (5), Maggie Dickman (2), Abby Carpenter (2), Brooke McCusker (2), Immie Gillgrass (3) and Rachel Thetford (2).
Wake Forest Football Overview
The Demon Deacons defeated Southeastern Conference representative Missouri 27-17 in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. on Dec. 23, 2022. The win marked Wake Forest's fifth in the last seven years since the Deacs began the Atlantic Coast Conference's second-longest bowl streak and the country's tied for the 10th-longest back in 2016.
During the Deacs current run of bowl appearances, Wake Forest has defeated two SEC teams (Texas A&M, 2017; Missouri, 2022) and a Big Ten team (Rutgers).
Head coach Dave Clawson's five bowl victories, which is the most in school history, ranks tied for fifth in ACC history for postseason wins. Clawson ranks behind Bobby Bowden (Florida State, 11), Dabo Swinney (Clemson, 11), Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech, 6) and Danny Ford (Clemson, 6). Meanwhile, he is now tied with Jimbo Fisher (Florida State, 5) and Ralph Friedgen (Maryland, 5).
The 2022 Wake Forest football team (8-5 Overall) was just the 10th in program history to win eight games in a season in the 115-year history of the program. Four of the 10 eight-win seasons have come in the Dave Clawson era (40 percent).
Since the start of the 2016 season, the Deacs are tied for the second-most wins in the ACC not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 season entering bowl season. Additionally over the last five years, the Deacs have the second-most wins in a single five-year period.
With that, the Deacs have set a new standard for success in the win column with a record of 19-8 over the last two seasons. The 19 wins in a two-year period are the second most in school history and three away from the program record of 21 set in 2006 & 2007. Additionally, Wake Forest's 19-8 record is the ninth-best mark in all of Power-5 in the last two seasons.
Offensively, Wake Forest finished the 2022 season averaging 36.1 points per game, helping the Deacs post its sixth consecutive season of averaging 30 or more points a game. This is the longest active streak and the fourth longest in ACC history. Additionally, the Deacons threw for a program record 43 touchdowns during the 2022 season.
Under Warren Ruggiero and Dave Clawson's tutelage, the last three starting quarterbacks at Wake Forest have earned All-ACC honors when they were a starter (John Wolford, 2017; Jamie Newman, 2019; Sam Hartman, 2021 & 2022).
Finally, Wake Forest is an astounding 20-4 at home since the start of the 2019 season thanks to the incredible atmosphere created by Wake Forest's fans and students inside Truist Field over the past few seasons.