In 1997, after 29 years of moving between 12 different home fields, Seattle Pacific University finally found a soccer stadium to call home. This fall marks the seventh season for the Falcons at Interbay Stadium, located less than a mile west of the SPU campus, and this will be the first on the FieldTurf playing surface.

In its brief history, Interbay has hosted four capacity crowds and four NCAA playoff games while drawing praise for its design and dedication to soccer. While the Falcons and spectators cherish the stadium, opposing teams rarely enjoy the visit. Gong into 2003, they have a home record of 48-11-2.

The stadium’s opening game was Sept. 6, 1997, when the SPU men’s team posted a 3-2 win over Sonoma State. Vadim Tolstolutsky scored the first goal less than eight minutes after the opening kick-off. The Falcon women debuted against Central Washington Sept. 8, 2001.

Interbay, originally a $3.3 million project, was renovated in the summer of 2003, with FieldTurf, a FIFA-approved synthetic surface, replacing the original SportGrass composition. fieldturf nearly duplicates the playing conditions of real grass. It consists of polyethlyene blended fibers, treated and tufted into a unique porous surface backing. The infill of graded silica sand and ground rubber provides a non-compactible, resilient, natural earth feel. Nike Grind, a recycled material made from used athletic shoes from Nike’s Re-Use-a-Shoe program, is part of the rubber mix in the FieldTurf infill.

The playing field measures 70 yards in width and 120 yards in length. It is also available to public soccer leagues in the area. The stadium is fully lighted and its amenities include seating for 900 spectators, a pressbox, scoreboard, concessions stand, ticket booths locker rooms and restrooms. The Interbay fieldhouse contains two locker rooms, an athletic training room, officials locker room, concession area, management office and a press box with work spaces for 20 working members of the media. Adjacent to the main soccer field are softball, little league baseball and T-ball fields which can also be configured to include a practice soccer field.

Funding for the original project was paid for by $2 million challenge gift from the Murdock Charitable Trust, and through private donations to Seattle Pacific. Construction by the Sabey Construction began in May of 1997.

For the SPU soccer program, the completion of Interbay brought an end to the days and nights of commuting to various sites around King County for practices and games. The site had long been a Seattle Parks & Recreation Department field. In fact, the old Interbay field was the site of the Falcons’ first home game, Oct. 9, 1968. They played 15 matches at Interbay through 1972. The primary home fields later used were Queen Anne Bowl, Memorial Stadium and Newport Stadium in Bellevue. No home games were played on a grass field from 1975-96, and from 1989-96 the majority of those games were played on the east side of Lake Washington.