The perfect pitch

Now in its 101st year, the Princeton soccer program has graduated numerous professional players and benefited from world-class coaching. When the men's and women's soccer teams kick off next season, they will finally have a stadium of equal standing.

The University is currently constructing a $13.4 million soccer complex that will include Roberts Stadium, a 3,000-seat venue with several state-of-the-art accommodations, including team rooms and a press box. The facility will immediately become the best in the Ivy League and arguably among the finest in the country.

The three-sided stadium will enclose Myslik Field, a natural grass surface with night lighting for games. Plummer Field, the turf practice surface which will sit adjacent to the stadium on the fourth side of Myslik Field will enable both teams to practice every day, rain or shine.

Roberts Stadium will be a fitting home for a soccer program with an impressive history. Current U.S. men's national team head coach Bob Bradley '80 coached the men's team from 1984 to 1995. The women's team has earned national recognition in recent years, highlighted by its semifinal appearance in the 2004 NCAA tournament — the best performance ever for any Ivy League school in a 64-team postseason tournament.

Despite of the strength of its teams, however, the program's Lourie-Love Field — which was used for games — and Gulick Field — used for practices — began to fall into disrepair many years ago.

"Our soccer venue was really one of the last athletic sites that needed significant upgrading," Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67 said.

Alumni, who had long lamented the condition of the fields, were eager to contribute to the construction of the new facilities.

Fundraising for the stadium ran from July to December of 2006 and was a cooperative effort between the Office of Development, the Friends of Princeton Soccer and the coaches. Their joint efforts raised $8.4 million to complement the University's contribution of $5 million.

"To the outside observer, the effort moved quickly, but to our alumni and friends, the new stadium couldn't come a day too soon," said Tara Christie Kinsey '97, an academic fellow for the men's soccer team and the liaison between the Department of Athletics and the Office of Development for the stadium project.

Extensive support for the stadium's construction came from Thomas Roberts '85 and his wife Kristen, John Laporte '67 and his wife Andrea and the family of Robert Myslik '90 — a former Princeton player and assistant coach who tragically passed away in a car crash four years ago. With the Roberts family as the lead stadium donor and the Myslik family as the lead game-field donor, the Laportes played a crucial role in rallying additional financial support by issuing a one-for-two matching grant challenge.

Friends of Princeton Soccer President Wayne Paglieri '78 and his predecessor Charles Stillitano '81 also served as invaluable leaders in the fundraising campaign.

"When it came time to raise the funds, the Friends were an informed and ready audience, committed to realizing this high-priority project," Kinsey said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Especially impressive about the overall fundraising effort was the relative youth of the donors, with a large proportion of the donations coming from those who graduated in the 1980s — many of them first-time donors.

"The Friends Group in general over the last couple years has really stepped up our efforts to stay in touch with alumni," men's head coach Jim Barlow '91 said. "We do much more frequent and comprehensive newsletters now to keep the alumni updated regularly, and we've seen an increase in the number of people who respond to Friends Group mailings and join the Friends Group."

President Tilghman — who named the soccer project her highest priority among athletic facilities on campus — also became a crucial player in expediting the effort.

"It meant a great deal to our alumni and friends that this project was a priority of President Tilghman's," Kinsey said. "People like to know that what they're giving to is a real need."

The decision to construct Roberts Stadium and Plummer Field on the sites of the preexisting fields made planning and approval easier. Construction began in May 2007 under the direction of the University Senior Project Manager Jane Curry and is expected to be completed for use in the 2008 season. Until then, both the men's and women's teams will play their home matches on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium.

To construct Myslik Field, the project will lower Lourie-Love Field by a few feet to make it level with Plummer Field. The lay of the land will create "a natural amphitheater," Walters said, enabling seating to neatly surround the playing surface. This same topography — according to Athletic Department Associate Director for Facilities Jeff Graydon — is what made Lourie-Love Field an "ideal" site for soccer.

While the project was bound by University regulations and subject to state and local approval, the coaches, alumni and other interested parties had ample opportunity to contribute to the design of the stadium. The final design, created by Anderson Architects, is one with which all parties are extremely pleased.

"Already, [it] has helped showing the renderings [of the new stadium] to recruits and having them see the progress out there," Barlow said. "It's already making a difference that way."

Princeton soccer has enjoyed more than a century of accomplishment, and now thanks to the dedicated commitment of its alumni and friends, the program will have a facility whose quality will match that of its players and coaches far into the future.