| AstroTurf Field proved to be one of the best home-field advantages in the country for the second straight year, as Penn State finished fifth in the country in home attendance for the 2006 season. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; February 20, 2007 - The home of Penn State field hockey, AstroTurf Field, once again proved to be one of the friendliest home fields in the country in 2006, both on the field and in the stands. Penn State, which went undefeated on AstroTurf Field in its first year in 2005, was ranked fifth in the country in home attendance for the 2006 season. The 2006 attendance figures for field hockey were released last week by the NCAA.
The Nittany Lions, who now have a two-year record of 16-3 on AstroTurf Field, averaged 364 fans per game in its nine home dates this past season, trailing only Providence, Maryland, North Carolina and Wake Forest, which led the country with 536. Penn State??s total home attendance was 3,276, which ranked eighth in the country, topped by the 623 fans that saw the Nittany Lions beat Michigan 4-0 on September 29, which was the second-largest crowd in the two-year history of AstroTurf Field. Six of the seven teams ranked ahead of Penn State, however, had more than the nine home dates that Penn State had.
Penn State also ranked tops among Big Ten schools in home attendance. The Nittany Lions came in just ahead of Michigan, which finished sixth with an average of 355 per game, and far outdistanced Ohio State (11th), Michigan State (16th), Northwestern (22nd), Iowa (29th) and Indiana (34th). This was the first year that the NCAA tracked attendance numbers for field hockey.