Upgrades to athletic facilities occur every year throughout the country. This may be apparent to those who have attended ISU football games this fall, as a brand new scoreboard was installed above the Jacobson Athletic Building at Jack Trice Stadium for the 2011 season.

The improvement at Jack Trice Stadium is not, however, the only project Iowa State University has undertaken.

A new facility is currently under construction near the Wilson and Wallace residence halls that will be the new home to ISU soccer, softball and outdoor track. The project for the total of facilities will cost $13 million, but Chris Jorgensen, senior associate athletic director for facilities, planning and management, said that the new facilities are necessary.

“[We needed] to have facilities that are on par with our peers and competitors in the Big 12, and we felt that it was very important to upgrade the facilities for soccer, softball and outdoor track,” Jorgensen said.

The relocation also will provide an opportunity for the soccer team to move out of the flood plain the current field is in. The ISU Soccer Complex saw repairs to it after the floods of August 2010.

Jorgensen added that the new soccer facility specifically will be a great improvement for players, coaches and fans. The Cyclone soccer team has been hosting its games at the ISU Soccer Complex on the east side of Lied Recreation Athletic Center since Iowa State added women’s soccer in 1995.

“[The new facility] will have an artificial surface soccer field and seating for 1,500 fans,” Jorgensen said. “There will also be a secondary grass field that they will have for practice.”

Sophomore forward Brittany Morgan said she is excited to see what changes the new stadium will bring for the team.

“It will be fun playing in a new place,” Morgan said. “It’s sad to see the old stadium go, but we are really excited for the new stadium. It’s pretty cool [that we are getting a turf field] and moving into a new locker room and all of that stuff will be just awesome for our program.”

For coach Wendy Dillinger, the move to the new Cyclone Sports Complex will be a bittersweet one.

“I really like the environment we have here, it’s very intimate,” Dillinger said. “It’s a great surface and is just a good venue. It’s just a great feel, especially on Friday nights, playing there. We will definitely miss that, but we are excited about the new facility and everything it is going to bring.”

The current ISU Soccer Complex will be taken over by the Recreation Services department and will be used to benefit students by possibly creating fields for intramural soccer or rugby.

The ISU soccer team will plan on starting the 2012 season at its new home at the Cyclone Sports Complex.