The Lake Forest College Athletic Department is excited to announce the completion of Mohr Field, an artificial turf facility that will serve as a venue for the College's new men's and women's lacrosse programs, continue to be the home of Forester softball, and provide the Forester soccer teams with an additional game and practice field.

Construction of the field was made possible by the contributions of donors, most notably the late Jean Whyte Mohr '52 and Frank Mohr Jr. '52. The $2 million facility renovation coincides with the addition of lacrosse to the College's slate of varsity sport programming, which was announced in October of 2019. Phil Dodson and Maggie Zentgraf were hired as the head coaches of the men's and women's programs, respectively, in July and the teams will begin competing in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference and Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference in 2021-22. Phase I of the project, the hiring of coaches and construction of the field, is now complete. Fundraising and planning for Phase II, which includes the purchase of remaining equipment, as well as the creation of locker rooms for lacrosse and related enhancements for soccer and football in Halas Hall, is underway.

"The athletic facilities at Lake Forest College are among the best in the country," noted Dodson. "Mohr Field is a top-of-the-line facility and a significant step in providing our athletes what they need to succeed. I look forward to competing in front of our home crowd spring 2022."

"I've been watching the progress on Mohr Field all summer and it has been so exciting to see the evolution of it," exclaimed Zentgraf. "I cannot wait for the members of the our team, the College's first ever in women's varsity lacrosse, to take their first steps on the field."

Mohr Field is located just south of Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse (ice rink) and the artificial turf covers 122,000 square feet. The facility includes permanent lines for men's lacrosse (blue), women's lacrosse (yellow), soccer (red), as well as white foul lines, brown infield turf, and a portable outfield fence for softball. Additional features for softball include a bullpen and two batting cages.

"The funding and completion of Mohr Field was such an important first step in the development of our new Forester lacrosse programs and I couldn't be more grateful to the College's dear friends Jean and Frank Mohr and our other loyal donors for making this dream a reality," commented Lake Forest College Vice President for Athletics and Career Advancement Jackie Slaats. "The state-of-the-art field, combined with the hiring of our two incredible new head coaches, has us positioned for both immediate and sustained success in lacrosse recruiting and competition. The field is also a big boost to our storied and successful softball and soccer programs and to other programming at the College."

"It was an honor to be part of this facility project in my first year as Interim Director of Athletics," stated Blake Theisen. "I'd like to echo Jackie's sentiments of thanks to those who have made Phase I of this project a reality. I'm excited to share in the many Forester victories and special memories to be made on Mohr Field for years to come."

Team Reil, Inc. performed the excavating and construction work on the facility while Gewalt Hamilton Associates, Inc. provided the engineering and project management oversight. Midwest Sport and Turf Systems, which was also responsible for the surface on Lake Forest College's Farwell Field and many other facilities throughout the region, installed its MST Pro-Blend synthetic turf system. Lake Forest College Director of Facilities Management Dave Siebert and Director of Athletic Facilities Brian Bruha served as on-campus project managers.

A dedication ceremony for Mohr Field is tentatively scheduled for Homecoming Weekend (October 1-3) next fall. There was, however, a celebratory photo shoot recently with coaches, student-athletes, and administrators (see photo gallery below).

Click on any of the images below for a larger version and to view the photos in a slideshow format.

Mohr Field Photo Gallery - October 2020