Merrill Field is the home of the Saxons’ varsity football, lacrosse, and soccer teams, and is also used for intramural sports such as soccer and flag football.
Merrill Field is the home of the Saxons’ varsity football, lacrosse, and soccer teams, and is also used for intramural sports such as flag football. Combining the rosters of those teams with students participating in physical education classes and intramural teams, well over 400 students use Merrill Field each year. Significant upgrades have been made to Merrill Field in the past 7 years.
In 2018, Merrill Field at Yunevich Stadium received a major upgrade in the form of a video scoreboard installed and dedicated to Bob '66 and Pat Codispoti. The scoreboard still adorns the field today.
New features to Merrill Field since 2023 include:
Yunevich Stadium is named after legendary football coach, Alexander Yunevich, the winning-est coach in Alfred University football history. Yunevich headed the program from 1937 to 1976, with only a break from 1942 to 1946 where Yunevich spent time serving in the U.S. Navy. He completed his career with a 177-85-12 record, six undefeated seasons and countless coaching honors including the 1956 Small College National Coach of the Year honor. Yunevich is noted as bringing "unprecedented national attention" to a small college football program - even being featured in the October 21, 1974 edition of Sports Illustrated in an article titled Head coach, prewar model by Larry Keith. Yunevich also coached golf, wrestling and basketball at AU.
The field within Yunevich Stadium itself is named Merrill Field, titled after John J. Merrill, an 1884 graduate of Alfred University. Merrill was an Alfred University Board of Trustee that donated the property for the athletic fields in the early 1900's that still serve as the site of the athletic fields today. Merrill has also been affectionately referred to as "The Pit" by the student-athletes at Alfred University.
Merrill Field at Yunevich Stadium was constructed in 1921 and reconstructed in 2014.
Merrill Field at Yunevich Stadium was originally retrofitted with a state-of-the-art FieldTurf and new press box, both installed in 2010. The press box is still used by the Athletic Department staff and students to this day.
Merrill Field at Yunevich Stadium features a home grandstand with 210 box-style seats and aluminum bleachers with the capacity to seat 1,435 spectators. For visiting team spectators, there is a set of bleachers with a seating capacity of approximately 1,355.
