Lehigh University Athletics
Ulrich Sports Complex to receive facility upgrade
10/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
 |
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Beginning Monday, October 27, Lehigh’s Ulrich Sports Complex, located on the Goodman Campus, will undergo a long planned facility upgrade. The existing artificial surface, which has been in place for a decade, will be replaced with TigerTurf, a state-of-the-art synthetic sport field. This new playing surface will serve as the home for the Lehigh men’s and women’s lacrosse programs, as well as a frequent practice site for the football program, and will be called the Frank A. Banko Field, in honor of alumnus Frank Banko ’41. In the spring, construction will begin on a new field for Lehigh’s field hockey program. The field will have a playing surface called AstroGrass, a carpet-style artificial surface, and will be located to the east of the new Banko Field. The new AstroGrass field will also play host to intramural and club sports, benefiting the students who participate in these activities with a lighted field that can be used to extend scheduling opportunities.
“The planned expansion of the Ulrich Sports Complex was the product of considerable study and cost/benefit analysis,” Lehigh Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett ’76 explained. “More than ten years of preliminary planning and evaluation preceded the final decisions about locations and program elements, including considerable work by several student teams as part of Lehigh University’s Integrated Learning Experience curriculum.”
He continued, “A number of alternative sites for a second artificial surface were seriously considered and in the end, the availability of support amenities, and the visibility of the complex were compelling. We are deeply indebted to alumnus Frank Banko '41 for his generosity in helping to fund this project. The field on which our lacrosse teams will play and on which our football team will practice prior to games they play on synthetic fields, will bear his name. Ron Ulrich '65 has continued to support the complex which bears his name. Other significant naming opportunities remain as we endeavor to complete the funding required for this multi-faceted project."
The original turf field at the Ulrich Sports Complex will be fitted with an infilled surface, the kind of field that looks and plays like grass and accommodates cleated shoes. This project should be completed in approximately five weeks from the starting date and be ready for the 2009 lacrosse season.
The new AstroGrass field will be designed to meet the needs of Lehigh’s field hockey and intramural and club sport programs and will be a carpeted surface, which is firmer than the infilled surface and plays faster as a result. This portion of the project will get underway on around April 1, 2009 and will be completed in time for the 2009 fall semester.
Lehigh men’s lacrosse head coach Kevin Cassese is excited about the new surface his team will be playing on. "This type of surface is the preferred playing surface for the lacrosse athlete. It gives players the consistency that one typically gets from an AstroTurf surface along with the player-friendly ‘give’ that one typically gets from a natural grass field."
Cassese continued, "This new surface will be a major upgrade to our practice and game facility and will undoubtedly make the Ulrich Sports Complex and Frank Banko Field one of the best venues for men's lacrosse in the Patriot League."
TigerTurf America is part of one of the largest, most innovative global synthetic turf manufacturing companies in the world. Headquartered in New Zealand, TigerTurf has customers in every part of the world, from Japan, to Europe, to China, to Africa, to India and North and Latin America. The company produces playing surfaces for nearly every sport, including soccer, football, field hockey, lacrosse, tennis, golf, lawn bowling, and cricket.
Joe Kender, Vice President for Advancement in Lehigh University’s Development Office, offers his thoughts on Banko’s generosity for the upcoming project. "The alumni community continues to show its commitment toward providing our student athletes with the best possible venues at which to compete. This is just another great example of our alums going the extra mile to ensure that our athletes have the most fulfilling experience during their time at Lehigh."
“We’re thrilled to be getting a brand new surface to train and play on,” Mountain Hawks head field hockey coach Julie Mazer said. “This shows a high level of commitment by the Athletic Department to ensure that our student-athletes have a first-class facility that rivals any in our league.” With the planned project scheduled to begin on October 27, the field hockey program will play its final home game of the 2008 season in Easton on the campus of Lafayette College. Mazer concluded, “The re-location of our final home game this season is only temporary and will allow for the facility upgrade project to take our home venue to the next level. We are very appreciative of Lafayette College for their willingness to assist us by making their site available for our final game of the 2008 schedule.”
The intramural and club sport areas will also benefit greatly from the new AstroGrass surface, as it will allow for a lighted playing area for students that partake in those activities. “Our club sport programs can be expanded to allow play into the evening hours and this is very exciting to many of our participants who as busy Lehigh students are currently forced to do everything in the daylight hours,” Barb Turanchik, Lehigh’s Director of Club Sports explained. “This improvement will expand the scheduling for all of our club sports and allow their fellow students the chance to see them play under the lights, too. I see this as a wonderful improvement for all Lehigh students and student-athletes.”
“The expanded complex will be used regularly by seven of our varsity field teams, and will provide our campus athletic programs, including intramural sports and club sports, the opportunity to expand their scheduling and programming through access to a lighted synthetic field,” Sterrett mentioned.
Jane Josephson, Lehigh’s Director of Intramurals, has long been faced with the task of juggling schedules of games on numerous fields at once. The new facility will help to alleviate that challenge. “From an intramural standpoint, this will provide us with some night time play once we hit the playoff portion in our team sports. We will be able to run outdoor recreation soccer leagues and provide some additional green space areas for our kids to play on when the facility is not in use by our varsity programs or teams.”
