The riding mower at Husson College will get more down time this fall after the installation of a new FieldTurf artificial field surface on Boucher Soccer Field is completed.

One week after Husson College president William Beardsley gave final approval for the project, construction has begun on the Bangor college’s soccer facility.

The six-year-old facility, which has had a grass playing surface since its creation, should be ready for play in time for preseason practice and play this fall, according to Husson assistant athletic director and women’s varsity soccer coach Keith Bosley.

“It should be done August 1st, before we even start,” said Bosley, who is also Husson’s facilities director and director of intramural and recreational sports. “We’re pretty excited about it. It gives us a consistent surface to train and play on, and speaking as an administrator, we do have overuse of the field, so this gives us a chance to train and play more on it without adversely affecting it.”

FieldTurf uses artificial grass fibers surrounded and stabilized by a patented blend of synthetic earth made of smooth, rounded silica sand, rubber granules, and ground-up athletic shoe material to give the surface more give and lessen rug-burn injuries common with older, carpet-type turf surfaces.

“I love grass fields, and in an ideal world, I’d like to play on a perfect grass field. There’s just nothing like that,” Bosley said. “But in northern New England, there’s virtually no such thing in the fall.

“We’re lucky enough to be able to have the field playable for two or three straight weeks, so this will greatly help us. There’s virtually no chance we won’t be playing our games now. It’ll certainly cut back on our postponements.”

It may also help area high schools in terms of having another facility to play games.

“I think there will be opportunities like that, but that’s one of the things we’re a little cautious about because we’re expanding so rapidly at Husson, there will already be plenty of usage just from our own varsity and intramural programs,” said Bosley.

The current project, which was approved by Husson’s board of trustees this spring, is being handled by Sargent & Sargent of Hampden, which also installed the turf at the Winkin Baseball Complex. The field is named after John Boucher, who spearheaded the effort to build the field in 2001.

There will still be the occasional rug-burn injury, but the conversion is an overall upgrade for Husson’s soccer teams, according to Bosley.

“We used to play in parking lots and old sandlots. This is so much better than what we’re used to,” he said. “It’s not perfect and it still takes some regular work and care, but the great thing is you can play on it 24 hours a day if you like.”

Bosley said the speed of play is usually quicker on FieldTurf, but he doesn’t expect it will be greatly noticeable.

Stockwell playing ball in England

Recent Bates College graduate Rob Stockwell has signed a professional contract to play basketball in England for the Luna Mansfield Stars.

The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Stockwell, who played power forward for Bates, led the Bobcats in scoring and rebounding each of the last three seasons. He was also an All-New England Small College Athletic Conference team selection all three seasons (twice second team, once first team). He finished as Bates’ fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,512 points and grabbed 868 career rebounds.

Luna Mansfield, formerly the Mansfield Express, is an English Basketball League’s Division II member. The Stars’ season runs from the end of September though April.