Soccer Hosts at New Home

The USC Union men's soccer team hosted their season opener on Thursday, August 22^nd at their new home field in Jonesville against USC Sumter. Their new home, the E.H. Roberts Field, is the former home of the Jonesville High School football team at the Jonesville Municipal Complex. The Bantams baseball team will also have a new home field in Jonesville, located on Ballpark Street. Baseball field renovations will begin this fall and their season opener will be in spring 2020.  

The process of deeding the property to USC Union started back earlier this year when Michael Tyler, Town Administrator for Jonesville, and USC Union Marketing and Development Director, Annie Smith, were talking during a golf tournament sponsored by the Union County Development Board. The discussion was originally about the baseball field that the Town of Jonesville had to maintain but nobody used. The baseball team was practicing on the field, but needed some place of their own for a home field. Shortly thereafter, the Town of Jonesville and the University entered into discussions, at first about the baseball field and later the soccer field.

With the help of USC Facilities Project Manager, Keith Ballington, and Annie, the scoreboard was relocated, concession stand had a facelift, and the press box received a complete renovation. The second floor of the press box can now be used to host special guests and donor events. 

USC Union's dean, Dr. John Catalano, said USC Union is proud to partner with Union County, the Union County School District, and the Town of Jonesville in order to establish the home of Bantam soccer and Bantam baseball. "Michael Tyler and Annie Smith have been the driving force behind this effort but without Mayor Ernest Moore and the Jonesville Town Council it could not have happened," Catalano said. It is a pleasure to work in a county in which there is cooperation by so many players with the goal of a better University and a better community in which to live. I hope our Bantams play with the same spirit of teamwork that I see daily in Union County and its municipalities."