New field for soccer, lacrosse being built at UGF

The University of Great Falls soccer and lacrosse teams finally have a place they can call home.

“They are ecstatic,” said Caleb Schaeffer, the Argo head wrestling coach and acting interim co-athletic director with volleyball coach Arunas Duda.

They are ecstatic because they won’t be playing at Siebel Soccer Park anymore.

Soon, they will have a field all to their own, a field that’s not several miles off campus, a field they don’t have to share with the local high schools.

A mutual agreement with the city has allowed for an on-campus field to be built at zero cost to the school and is expected to be ready by spring of 2016. Work is already underway.

It’s a win-win for both parties, he said.

“It’s a land swap,” Schaeffer said. “They needed a retention pond for the overflow of water ... and it was actually the perfect spot at the University of Great Falls.

“We were able to work out an agreement where we were able to give them the land for that and put a soccer field over the top for giving them that land.”

The field, which will include a scoreboard and stadium-type seating, will be made up of sod — they are looking into the possibilities of turf — and Schaeffer said he hopes it will be done by the end of the year.

“There won’t probably be any competition this year because it will be a sod field and we will have to have time for it to take root,” he said.

In the near future, Schaeffer said, they will discuss adding lights so that games can be played at nighttime. The proposed new field is located right next to the McLaughlin Center.

“It just shows the community our school,” Schaeffer said. “When it’s off campus, it doesn’t get the community to be in touch with the university, see what we have going on here.

“I think a lot of people don’t really know what University of Great Falls all has to offer, so I think that’s just another avenue for them to come on campus and see all of the great things that are going on here.”