Construction began on a brand-new facility for Lafayette College’s lacrosse programs at Metzgar Fields Athletic Campus in July. The complex will be named the Wallach Sports Performance and Lacrosse Center, a gift from Andrew Wallach ’95 and Dina Wallach ’95.
The 21,900-square-foot facility is slated to be completed by the fall of 2025, and the cost estimate for construction was $10 million when it was first announced.
The donation from the Wallach family was originally intended for the construction of a new facility on the current site of the Maroon Club Strength Center. The project was quietly moved to Metzgar without a broad announcement from the college, though information on the new lacrosse facility was uploaded at an unknown date to the facilities section of the GoLeopard website. In a July 12 post on the GoLeopards Instagram account, the beginning of construction was announced.
When reached for comment, Director of Athletics Sherryta Freeman did not respond to specific questions about the motivation behind the change of location but referenced the campus master plan.
“The campus master plan calls to unite athletics, health and wellness, academics and sustainability, and to establish a bold vision for our Metzgar campus,” Freeman wrote in an email. “The Wallach Sports Performance and Lacrosse Center is a catalyst project for this realization at Metzgar, providing student-athletes with a new weight room and nutrition center enhancement onsite, a new turf field to provide flexibility, additional practice and competition times, and a dedicated locker rooms, offices, and meeting spaces for the lacrosse program, allowing for the enhancement of space within Kirby Sports Center once completed.”
Neither Freeman nor Andrew Foster, the senior associate athletic director for facilities and operations, responded to specific questions about an updated cost estimate for the facility given its location change. Foster also described what the center would contain to support the lacrosse programs in an email.
In an email, Katie McConnell, a women’s lacrosse coach, wrote that “The Wallach Sports Performance and Lacrosse Center will undoubtedly change everything for Lafayette lacrosse. The center shows the College’s commitment to the lacrosse programs and athletics as a whole.”
“The new sports performance and lacrosse center is a total game changer,” Pat Myers, a men’s lacrosse coach, echoed in an email. “This is a best-in-class facility that matches the work ethic, drive and passion that our student-athletes commit to their craft on a daily basis. It will be a home that allows us to compete for championships year-in and year-out.”
The Wallachs have provided the college with financial aid and athletic support since their graduation. In 2017, they founded the Wallach Family Scholarship Fund to provide need-based financial aid to Lafayette students and have supported the lacrosse programs over the years. In addition to the Wallachs’ gift, the F.M. Kirby Foundation Inc. committed $2 million to the project.
