At a press conference on Tuesday, Hopkins announced plans to build a new facility to house the men’s and women’s lacrosse programs.
The Cordish Lacrosse Center, named after lead donor David Cordish (’60), will be a $10 million, 14,000-square foot building that will sit at the south end of Homewood field, where both lacrosse teams play their games.
The structure will feature locker rooms for the men’s and women’s teams, office space for both coaching staffs, an auditorium, a training room, an academic center and a conference room. There will also be an outdoor patio on the second floor of the facility overlooking the field, where fans and alumni can watch games.
The University will officially break ground on the Cordish Lacrosse Center in June and hopes to finish the project in the opening months of 2012.
“At Johns Hopkins, we take special pride in our unique 128-year tradition of excellence in lacrosse,” Hopkins President Ronald J. Daniels said. “This new center builds on that tradition and supports the Blue Jays in their continued pursuit of excellence.”
Daniels emphasized that the Hopkins’s lacrosse program couldn’t stand on tradition alone and that “it was time to renew the facilities.” Currently, the Newton H. White Athletic Center is home to the men’s and women’s lacrosse offices, locker rooms and training facilities.
Athletic director Tom Calder, Men’s Lacrosse Head Coach Dave Pietramala, and Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach Janine Tucker joined Daniels at the press conference.
Pietramala, who is entering his 11th season as head coach, noted the importance of keeping pace with other schools as the world of college lacrosse continues to evolve.
“The landscape of college lacrosse has changed dramatically over the last 10 years,” he said. “Whether it’s recruiting, facilities, salaries, expectations, television exposure . . . the game has changed.”
As the men’s and women’s lacrosse programs move into the new facilities, they will free up more space in the athletic center for Hopkins’s other teams. For that reason, Pietramala said he believed that the building of the Cordish Lacrosse Center will have a “trickle-down effect that will help other sports at Hopkins.”
Tucker perhaps expressed the most enthusiasm of all, running around the room embracing Daniels, Cordish, and other donors. “Isn’t this fantastic?” the head coach remarked exuberantly. “I’m absolutely freaking out right now.”
Unlike the men’s program, which played its first intercollegiate lacrosse game in 1883, women’s lacrosse is relatively new at Hopkins. The university played its first women’s lacrosse game in 1976 and went from Division III to Division I in 1999.
Tucker called the creation of the facility an “extraordinary event . . . for our program” and promised donors, alumni, and fans that the teams would not let them down.
Both coaches noted the importance of the new building in the recruiting process, since the facility is the first of its kind dedicated exclusively to lacrosse. Calder underscored this point when he stated, “Only at Hopkins do you get support like this.”
Rachel Ballatori, a junior on the women’s team who plays attack, said that recruits who visit Hopkins get excited when they are told about the planned facility.
Ballatori also noted the “tremendous pride” she expects to feel when her team enters Homewood field from the Cordish Lacrosse Center before the start of a game.
While the construction will not actually get started until after the conclusion of this season, a ceremonial groundbreaking will take place at halftime of the men’s home game against Navy on April 23.
