Construction Underway On Daemen/Park Soccer Field Collaboration

AMHERST, N.Y. - A construction project to improve playing conditions at Karrer Field, home of the Daemen College men's and women's soccer teams, is currently underway Director of Athletics Bridget Niland announced today.

The project, which was the subject of a May 3 article by Stephen T. Watson in The Buffalo News, aims to improve the field's drainage, widen it to NCAA specifications and, perhaps most importantly, re-grade the area to eliminate a 10-foot pitch covering the length of the field. The slope of the field had caused approximately 75 percent of the scoring to happen at the north end where teams were literally attacking downhill when Daemen's teams began using the field last fall. Construction, which is being performed by LaBella Associates, is expected to take six weeks with an additional six weeks allotted for the new natural grass playing surface to settle.

Karrer Field, which sits adjacent to Harlem Road on the campus of The Park School of Buffalo, is located less than a mile away from Daemen's Main Street campus. According to The Buffalo News article, it has been used to host athletic competitions since the 1950's, and the last significant improvements to the playing area came 10 to 12 years ago. Funds for the latest round of renovations have been raised by Daemen in exchange for an eight-year agreement with Park for rent-free use of the field. The project represents the latest collaboration between Daemen and Park which jointly signed a memorandum of understanding last February to enhance academic, athletic and community outreach programs at both institutions.

Daemen, which had previously used rented space at various locations including Amherst High School and the Amherst campus of Erie Community College for soccer competitions since both the men's and women's programs began play in 2000, began making optical and functional improvements to Karrer Field last fall. Those upgrades included signage, a Daktronics scoreboard and a portable press box.

It is a great time to be part of the soccer programs here at Daemen," said Head Men's Soccer Coach Bobby McColl who will enter his second season coaching the Wildcats this fall. "The construction of a new grass field and our partnership with The Park School is something we are all very excited about. A lot of hard work has gone into making this possible and we can't wait to get on the field this fall."

Head Women's Soccer Coach Dan Dolan, who begins his ninth season with the team this fall, echoed McColl's sentiments, saying "It's a very exciting project, one that we're all looking forward to. It'll be great to not only have a real home field, but one that we anticipate will be one of the top fields in our conference for this season and for the foreseeable future."

Daemen's soccer teams return to campus for preseason training in mid-August. The construction and settling time for the new playing surface at Karrer Field is not expected to impact the start of their respective 2017 seasons which are slated to begin in late August or early September. The teams' 2017 schedules are expected to be released before the end of June.

For continuing coverage of the Daemen College men's and women's soccer teams, follow @DaemenAthletics, @DaemenMSOC and @DaemenWSOC on Twitter.

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