Hermann Stadium has greeted hundreds of teams under its lights, from several Atlantic-10 Conference teams, the Kansas City Wizards, the 2004 men’s College Cup teams, and even bigger names, such as Real Madrid.

On March 31 through April 2, Hermann opened up its gates to the United States and New Zealand Women’s national teams as a practice field prior to their matchup at Busch Stadium, on Sat., April 4.  The United States took the victory 4-0 over New Zealand in front of a crowd of 35,000 fans.

New Zealand utilized Hermann first, on Tuesday afternoon, with just a few players; most of their team members’ flights were delayed.  The whole team came out for practice Wednesday, and again Thursday afternoon.  The United States practiced on the Billiken’s home field Thursday morning.

Players, coaches and staff of SLU’s athletic department, specifically the soccer teams, monitored Hermann and the surrounding area for every private practice.  For their hard work, some of the women’s soccer team members were able to get a tour of the United States’ locker rooms at Busch Stadium and meet some of the players after the team practiced on Friday.

The United States is looking forward to the 2015 FIFA World Cup in Canada this summer- their performance against New Zealand this past weekend drew  several thousand fans to the match, and millions around the world  are anxiously awaiting to see what this team can do.