Folk Field

Folk Field

Folk Field and the Boilermaker Soccer Complex is the award-winning home of the Purdue soccer program.

The facility features an award-winning Bermuda grass playing surface, an adjacent practice field and grandstand seating. A spacious team building includes locker rooms, team rooms and athletic training room along with a press box with media, television and radio booths.

Purdue soccer has received noticeable improvements to its facilities in recent years. Renamed Folk Field in 2016, the Boilermakers were presented with a newly renovated Boilermaker Soccer Complex in the summer of 2012, highlighted by a new building on the west side of the field that houses locker rooms, team rooms, an athletic training room, sizable press box and roof access for better filming of games. The soccer players' new locker room is a hangout that includes a flat-screen TV with video game inputs, plus a jukebox, magazines, mini-fridge and furniture. Each of the lockers are personalized and have enough room to store shoes, socks, shin guards and several pairs of shorts and uniforms. Lock boxes are installed at the base of each locker to secure personal items.

Lights were installed in August 2011 to allow the Boilermakers to play night games for the first time. Purdue defeated Colorado Sept. 2, 2011, in the first-ever night game at Folk Field.

The Boilermaker Soccer Complex was renamed as Loren and Donna Folk Field in the summer of 2016. A dedication ceremony for the facility's new name was held prior to the Sept. 23, 2016, home game against Wisconsin. Loren and Donna Folk were faithful Boilermakers, believed in the value of intercollegiate athletic competition and generously supported educational opportunities throughout their lives. Both of their children graduated from Purdue with engineering degrees - Matt Folk (1991) and Jennie Folk Mattice (1995). Matt Folk is president and CEO of Technology Marketing, president of the Boiler Business Exchange of Indianapolis, a Brees National Leadership committee member of the John Purdue Club, and has financially supported the field. He and his family were among the distinguished guests at the dedication ceremony.

The centrally-located team building and press box houses home and away locker and team meeting rooms as well as concessions and public restrooms. A new grandstand was built on the west side of the game field. The second-level press area has room for media, television and radio announcers, as well as gameday staff. New black sideboards with gold logos and lettering, as well as new dugouts for the players and coaches, were installed in the summer of 2016 at the complex.

The award-winning Folk Field playing surface underwent a major facelift in the spring of 2007. The additions include a state-of-the-art drainage system and a Bermuda grass surface. The cement dugouts were removed and replaced by Plexiglas shelters with aluminum benches. Folk Field is believed to be the northern most field in the country to feature Bermuda grass. It has been honored with six consecutive Fields of Excellence awards by Pioneer Athletics (2013-18) and hosted a Chicago Fire-Indy Eleven friendly in the spring of 2014.

The facility improvements, designed by Dan Almond of Millenium Sports Architect in Colorado, are a point of pride for Purdue Athletics.

The improvements started with the installation of the Quik-Drain system, which is a series of sand-filled slits in the field subsurface. The slits, placed approximately 20 inches apart down the entire length of the field, direct water straight into buried drainage lines that carry water off the field.

The top four inches of field surface are a special mixture of sand varieties that not only allow for good drainage, but also bind together with the grass root structure to create a very solid soccer field.

Purdue has played well in West Lafayette over the years, putting together a 134-76-25 (.628) all-time record at home through the 2019 season.

ADDRESS
1350 McCormick Road
West Lafayette, Ind. | 47906