James G. Pressly Stadium

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The Gator soccer team plays all its home matches at one of the finest collegiate soccer stadiums in the nation, James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track. Florida’s amassed a home record of 131-21-10 (.840) in its 14-year history and crowd support for the team has ranked among the nation’s top 10 for every season. The Gators ranked sixth in the nation with its 2008 average attendance of 1,486 per match.

An overflow crowd of 5,222 filled the Pressly Stadium complex when Florida and then No. 1-North Carolina met on Oct. 11, 1998 for one of the top regular-season matches of the 1998 season. That crowd was the second largest regular-season crowd of the 1998 women’s soccer season and ranks as the 15th largest among the nation’s all-time regular-season crowds. Florida opened the 1999 season with another overflow crowd, when 4,745 fans joined in the pre-match festivities, which included the unveiling of the NCAA Championship sign. That attendance also stands among the nation’s top 30 all-time regular-season crowds.

Pressly Stadium was the site of the 1997 Southeastern Conference Tournament and the UF-Vanderbilt championship match drew a SEC record crowd of 2,520. Florida played host to NCAA First, Second and Third Round action in 2008, the 11th time in the program's 14-year history that NCAA play was held at Pressly Stadium.

Lights were added to the stadium for the 1997 season and the first night match played at Pressly Stadium versus SEC rival Kentucky drew the fifth-largest crowd in school history of 3,425. In 2008, Florida will play seven of its 12 home matches under the lights.

During the spring and summer of 1995, the stadium underwent a major $750,000 facelift so that the facility could accommodate soccer. In order to meet specifications, the pole vault and long jump pits were moved from the infield to outside of the track, providing the new soccer field with a playing area of approximately 115 yards by 70 yards. In addition to redesigning the infield, 2,500 aluminum seats were added to the already existing 2,000-seat concrete grandstand, bringing total grandstand capacity to 4,500.

The renovation effort also included adding new restrooms, permanent concession stands, ticket booths, storage rooms and an air-conditioned split-level press box. In the spring of 2007, the scoreboard in the stadium's southeast corner was updated. A Daktronics scoreboard using the latest in LED technology cost was added at a cost of approximately $200,000 and serves both UF's soccer and track and field teams.

The stadium was named the James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track in the spring of 2004 following a generous gift from James G. Pressly, a West Palm Beach attorney and a 1972 graduate of the UF College of Law. The track has long held the name Percy Beard Track after the former Gator head track & field coach Percy Beard, who guided the Gators from 1937 to 1964.

Pressly Stadium is conveniently located adjacent to Florida's Lemerand Athletic Center. This multistory 43,000 square foot building, which opened in August of 1995, contains the locker room, equipment storage, training and sports medicine plus coaches' offices for the Gator soccer team. The Lemerand Athletic Center underwent more than $1,400,000 in renovations in 2006 and among the end results is a more spacious locker room for the Gator soccer team.

Starting this season, the Gator soccer team has exclusive use of a practice field which is part the brand new Florida Lacrosse Facility. The practice field is located near the Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium on the corners of Hull and Museum Roads on the UF campus.

Did You Know…
Florida has ranked among the nation's top 10 in average attendance every season in the history of Gator soccer.