The Cavaliers began their season in a renovated Scott Stadium with a 50,000 plus record-breaking crowd at the Homecoming game against Wake Forest Saturday.
"I think the atmosphere's great, it was nice to have a capacity crowd, nice to have noise," coach George Welsh said in a press conference Saturday.
Richard Laurance, head of expansion at Scott Stadium, said everything was on schedule with the stadium's construction.
All of the 3,157 new seats, which are only a part of the addition soon to be added to Scott Stadium, were filled, Laurance said.
Along with additional seating is a new lighting system that helped to display the game for the many University fans that tuned in to the broadcast on ESPN2.
The four stations, with two light poles per station, towered 170 feet in the air.
An emergency crew of 15 was on hand ready to help with any challenge the new construction might create.
Four hundred contractors also attended the game as guests of the University.
To secure the stadium in areas of unfinished renovations, fences and painted plywood blocked fans from entering restricted areas, Laurance said. Visiting and home teams entering the stadium, however, used some areas still under renovation, such as the Bryant Hall South entrance.
This area will soon become a three-level parking garage, he said.
More additions to the stadium should be made by the next home game against Virginia Tech Oct. 2.
"We expect more concrete on level five of the end zone, more precast concrete in the southwest section of the stadium and new street lights added in the north section where the students enter," Laurance said.
The new additions, however, did not seem to alleviate the crowding that students experience game after game.
Fourth-year Engineering student Kristin Clapp said in the first quarter six girls, including herself, were pushed down the stairs of the student section.
The accident was caused by an impatient crowd trying to go down the stairs, Clapp said.
Event staff members seemed sparse in such a large crowd of people, she said.
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