Lafayette celebrates opening of Wallach Sports Performance and Lacrosse Center

The Wallach Sports Performance and Lacrosse Center dedication took place on Sept. 20. | Photos by JaQuan Alston

For decades, Metzgar has been a place where students have tested their limits both in outdoor classrooms and on the field. Student-led sustainable farming practices, bird-focused research, and competition at the highest level in multiple Division 1 sports are just some of the accomplishments that happen each day at Metzgar. On Sept. 20, the legacy and impact of Metzgar was amplified with the opening of the Wallach Sports Performance and Lacrosse Center. Surrounded by alumni, families, and friends, the Lafayette community came together to usher in a new era for Lafayette lacrosse with the dedication of this new state-of-the-art center.

“This isn’t just a facility. It is a symbol of belief, a visual testament to the commitment to our student-athletes and the vision for our athletic programs,” said Director of Athletics Sherryta Freeman during her remarks. “The Wallach Sports Performance and Lacrosse Center gives our student-athletes a place where they will find their strength and build a legacy.”

Guests enjoyed a reception and tours of the two-story building, which features a state-of-the-art strength and performance training area for all student-athletes, including weight racks, each outfitted with leading-edge performance technology. The first floor also includes locker rooms, laundry cubbies for equipment distribution, laundry room, team meeting lounges, nutrition area, sports medicine room with a hydrotherapy area, and an outdoor auxiliary practice space located at the west end of the facility.

On the second floor, the Center offers a film room with terraced stadium-style seating, offices, and locker rooms for each team’s coaching staff, and access to a covered, illuminated patio overlooking the field, with tables and Adirondack chairs. The new facility also boasts a new turf field with lighting. 

Andrew ’95 and Dina Opici Wallach ’95 committed the lead gift to name the Wallach Center.

In 2021, Andrew ’95 and Dina Opici Wallach ’95 committed the lead gift, with additional support from the F. M. Kirby Foundation, Inc., in honor of Jeff ’84 P’19’22 and Karen Kirby ’87 P’19’22. Many supporters of Lafayette lacrosse also named spaces in the facility. The impact of the lacrosse program on alumni runs deep and is evident in these named spaces, which honor fellow alumni and former coaches Sharon Mitchell Gish and Bill Lawson, whose service to Lafayette lacrosse collectively spanned more than three decades. 

Gish served as the head coach of the women’s lacrosse team from 1976 to 1980. During her tenure, she led the team to significant achievements, including a Division II National Championship in 1980. Her contributions to the program were recognized with her induction into the Maroon Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.

Lawson served as the head coach of the men’s lacrosse team from 1972 to 2002. He became the winningest coach in the program’s history, amassing 155 victories. Under his leadership, the team achieved three of its best finishes in Patriot League play, tying for second place in 1991, 1992, and 1993. In honor of his legacy, the Patriot League renamed its Men’s Lacrosse Coach of the Year award to the “William Lawson Men’s Lacrosse Coach of the Year Award” in 2014.

As Lafayette celebrates its Bicentennial, the opening of the Wallach Center underscores the College’s ongoing commitment to its strategic plan and to providing students with opportunities to excel. This facility reinforces Lafayette’s dedication to nurturing well-rounded leaders who thrive in the classroom, on the field, and in the community, in addition to supporting a culture of athletic success. 

“The strategic plan has five pillars, and one of them is interdisciplinarity,” said President Nicole Hurd during her remarks. “If you look at these amazing student-athletes, they are living it every day. They are not just studying economics, they are studying economics and environmental studies. They are not just pursuing English, they are pursuing English and also speaking two or three languages. Our student-athletes are problem solvers, working in the Dyer Center and doing all sorts of things that show they are scholars and athletes at the same time. So when we talk about our strategic plan and interdisciplinarity, it is alive in these students, in the way they are learning.”

“When you walk into the Wallach Center, you can feel the standard at which we always practice, like we’re going to win the Patriot League Championship,” said sophomore defenseman Andrew Matarese ’28. “The building itself motivates you to want to work that hard …even if you’re tired, you know that you have the best support you could have in the entire country.”

“This facility gives us the tools to become the best athletes we can be,” senior defender Jordan Siemonsen ’26 added. “It means we can train harder, recover smarter, and prepare in the right ways. But it’s also more than that. It’s a symbol of the support behind us, of how much our program has grown and how much people believe in us.” 

Special thanks to the following individuals for creating named spaces in the Wallach Center:

• Bob Bazarian ’76
• Ted Blackburn ’02 and Erin Hickey
• William C. Buck ’50 and Laura T. Buck
• Evan Deoul ’84
• Jud ’79 P’13 ‘18 and Cindy Oaks Linville ’80, P’13’18
• John ’88 P’21’23 and Jackie Santos ’88 P’21’23
• Jan Ellen Slotter Dombrowski and Harry Dombrowski

View additional photos from the event on Flickr.