WakeMed Soccer Park

WakeMed Soccer Park
Former names	State Capital Soccer Park (2001–2002) SAS Soccer Park (2002–2007)
Location	Cary, North Carolina
Broke ground	2001
Opened	May 2002
Owner	Wake County
Operator	Town of Cary
Surface	Natural Grass
Construction cost	$14.5 million
Architect	Envirotek, Inc.
Capacity	10,000
Tenants
Carolina Courage (WUSA) (2001–2003) Cary Clarets (PDL) (2002–2009) Carolina RailHawks (NASL) (2007–Present) NC State Wolfpack (NCAA) (2002–Present)

WakeMed Soccer Park is a major soccer complex located in Cary, North Carolina, United States. Originally opened in 2002 as the home of the Carolina Courage of the WUSA, WakeMed Soccer Park is now the home to the Carolina RailHawks of the North American Soccer League. The North Carolina State Wolfpack men's and women's teams of the ACC play select matches there and the complex regularly hosts major tournaments such as the NCAA College Cup, the ACC Soccer Championships, and the NCHSAA high school state soccer finals.

The soccer complex consists of a purpose-built, soccer-specific main stadium, two lighted practice fields, and four additional fields. The main stadium and the 2 lighted fields (2 & 3) are all FIFA international regulation size (120 yards x 75 yards). The main stadium seats 6,883 and is expandable to 10,000 with temporary seating. Field 2 also has 1,000 permanent bleacher seats.

The complex also sports a full-length, nationally recognized cross-country course and houses the offices of Triangle Professional Soccer.

SAS Institute, a privately held software company, has its worldwide headquarters in Cary. SAS had naming rights to the soccer park through June 30, 2007 with the option to extend their naming rights for an additional 3 years. On September 27, 2007, the Town of Cary announced that SAS had not exercised their option on the naming rights and that WakeMed Health & Hospitals had purchased the naming rights to the stadium. Effective January 1, 2008, the stadium became known as WakeMed Soccer Park. The naming rights agreement with Cary is good for 3 years and cost $300,000 per year.^[1]

Construction history

WakeMed Soccer Park opened in May 2002 as State Capital Soccer Park. The park is on 150 acres (0.61 km²) that the State of North Carolina has leased to Wake County. Money to build the soccer park came from $14.5 million in county-wide hotel room and prepared food and beverage taxes. The Town of Cary assumed responsibility for operations and maintenance in 2004 from Capital Area Soccer League. On January 26, 2006, the Town of Cary council amended its lease to allow it to sublet the property to Triangle Professional Soccer through the year 2011 for the exclusive promotion of professional soccer and lacrosse events at the complex.

2011 Expansion

In November 2011, the Town of Cary kicked off a $6.3 million expansion project. The finished expansion added 3,000 permanent seats to the 7,000-seat stadium, 1,500 of the seats going to the north end zone and the other 1,500 to upper-level stands on the east side of the stadium. Also added on the east side were a new three-story building to provide restrooms, concessions, and access to the additional seating from the third floor. Team locker rooms were relocated to the ground level of the new structure to allow players direct access to the stadium from midfield and direct access from their team bus to the locker rooms.^[2]

Notable events

• 2002 United States men's national soccer team World Cup Training Camp
• 2002 Women's Nike Cup 1st Round
• 2003 WUSA All-Star Game
• 2003 NCAA Women's College Cup
• 2003 ACC Soccer Championships
• 2004 ACC Soccer Championships
• 2004 NCAA Women's College Cup
• 2005 ACC Soccer Championships
• 2005 NCAA Men's College Cup
• 2006 Rochester Rhinos Spring Combine and Training Camp
• 2006 United States men's national soccer team v. Jamaica
• 2006 United States men's national soccer team World Cup Training Camp
• 2006 USL First Division All-Star Game (v. Sheffield Wednesday)
• 2006 United States Women's National Soccer Team v. Canada
• 2006 State Games of North Carolina (soccer events, ceremonies)
• 2006 ACC Women's Soccer Championships
• 2006 NCAA Women's College Cup
• 2007 El Salvador v. Honduras International Friendly
• 2007 ACC Men's Soccer Championships
• 2007 NCAA Men's College Cup
• 2008 NCAA Women's College Cup
• 2008 Major League Lacrosse Rochester Rattlers vs. Philadelphia Barrage
• 2009 NCAA Men's College Cup
• 2009 Panama vs. Honduras International Friendly
• 2010 ACC Women's Soccer Championships
• 2010 ACC Men's Soccer Championships
• 2010 NCAA Women's College Cup
• 2011 United States Women's National Soccer Team v. Japan
• 2011 United States men's national soccer team Training Camp
• 2013 NCAA Women's College Cup

Cross Country Events

The grounds also host multiple high school cross country races. Including dual meets, high school conference championships, Mid-East Region Championship, and the Nike Team Southeast National Regional meets. The course starts and ends behind the practice fields and runs along the perimeter of the grounds. It is known to give personal bests even with a difficult hill which must be run twice. The course record for the 5k distance is 14:57.6 by Daniel Moore at the 2011 Great American Cross Country Festival. In recent years it has held the Atlantic Coast Conference's conference championship.

This is the course map: http://www.carolinaday.com/meets/2008/2008-nxn-reg-se-course-map.jpg

References

External links

• Live Field Closure/Status Information
• Pictures tagged with sassoccerpark at Flickr
• Travel Guide for Fans Visiting WakeMed Soccer Park

Coordinates: 35°47′10.19″N 78°45′18.38″W / 35.7861639°N 78.7551056°W / 35.7861639; -78.7551056