A lackluster field makes playing home games a rare treat for Knights

Over the past two years the Northern Essex Knights have only played a total of four regular season games on the home field at the campus. Rain in March and April make it tough for the grounds crew to keep the field in playing shape. Always having to rent a field puts stress and pressure on the coach and the athletic director to spend money that they wouldn’t have to if they had a field to handle the conditions of playing in New England. As outfielder Robert Lagasse points out, “Having a field that we could call home would be ideal. Yes it would cost a great deal of money but it would be worth it in the long run and less of a hassle for the team.”

“This field doesn’t have to be anything crazy but just something to help us be able to play more. We would have a lot more fans as well because the games would be right on campus, instead of having people travel which nobody does.” reasons Utilityman Kevin Tatis.  They just want a field to be able to reliably call home, nothing too extravagant.  A new field, even a modest one, would cost a lot of money to not only put in, but also install.

But the team is still holding out hope that an outside force may come into to help, as Southpaw Ronnie Luke argues “Money would be a huge issue but if we could get the city of Haverhill behind this then it could be a real possibility. Some of these private school or D1 school have fields you could only dream of, but to bring one to Haverhill it would be a major attraction.”

A field of that caliber would not only be a boon to the community college, but also the surrounding cities that could possibly also make use of the field.  The change could help the athletes play more as well as persuading a lot more prospective student-athletes to come to this school and play because of this potentially beautiful field. Only time will tell if the team gets their wish.