Dr. Corrine Folmer showed she was serious about taking the first penalty kick in Clovis East’s brand-new soccer complex, stripping off her jacket, stepping forward in her Adidas, and eying the west-end goal.

Senior goalkeeper Ciena Bird didn’t need to worry —the ball sailed high and to the right. “That’s the way we both win,” Folmer joked as she gave Ciena a hug.

As Clovis Unified’s superintendent and a former collegiate soccer player, it was appropriate for Folmer to be the first to make a play on the brand-new pitch, which will get its actual debut Friday night when the boys’ soccer team takes on Hoover High.

Folmer joined with district leaders and community members Thursday afternoon for the official ribbon-cutting of the $5 million facility. It includes a refreshment stand, restrooms, and field house, each of which has entrances or windows on two sides so they can be accessed by soccer fans on one side or softball and football fans on the other.

District Targets Top Quality Facilities

The soccer complex is the latest in a series of top-class amenities that not only provide Clovis Unified athletes with a quality playing environment but also make Clovis Unified a natural host for state meets, as it already does at Clovis West’s dive and swim complex and Buchanan’s track and field stadium.

Such amenities would not be possible without the support of Clovis Unified voters who approved bond measures that raised the tax revenues needed to build them, Folmer said.

And Folmer said she would have been excited to have the opportunity to play on such a pitch back in her high school playing days at Buchanan, where as a freshman on the varsity team she was dubbed “Scrub,” a nickname that has endured through the years and resurfaced Thursday.