Valley Fields is a 1,750-seat outdoor stadium and practice facility in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, primarily used by the varsity men's and women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

teams at

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

, all of which compete in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

. The complex houses bleachers, locker rooms, practice fields and a main stadium.

Facilities

The complex opened in 1993 as a

soccer-specific stadium A soccer-specific stadium, mainly in the United States and Canada, is a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-purpose stadium whic ...

, but renovations to the turf and the addition of locker rooms have taken place since. The complex is named for its location in the Menomonee Valley, which sits along the banks of the

Menomonee River The Menomonee River is one of three primary rivers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, along with the Kinnickinnic River and Milwaukee River. Description Named after the Menomonee (also spelled Menominee) Indians, the word was given to the Menomonee peo ...

in downtown Milwaukee, south of the main Marquette University campus and north of the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino complex. Adjacent to Valley Fields is Marquette's Shimek Track and Field Facility, which hosts the school's cross country and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

teams. In addition to use by

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

teams, Valley Fields hosts

intramural Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, for the purpose of fun and exercise. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' m ...

and club competitions and is open to Marquette students for general outdoor recreation. The soccer stadium renovation was completed in March 2014, including new seating and a press box. In 2017, Marquette inaugurated a seasonal air-supported dome structure over the middle

FieldTurf FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by FieldTurf Tarkett, a division of French company Tarkett. FieldTurf is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and its primary manufacturing facility i ...

field for winter practices and sports. The $3.6 million structure was funded by a handful of anonymous donors along with an athletic department surplus built up over several years. The dome will be used by Marquette varsity lacrosse, soccer, golf and track teams in addition to intramural and club sports.

Future Use

In 2022, Marquette sold land northeast of the Marquette Interchange to developers intending to construct an 8,000-seat soccer stadium as part of a larger sports, entertainment and housing development. As part of the deal, Marquette's soccer and lacrosse teams are expected to play games at the new stadium, while still utilizing Valley Fields as a practice facility.

References

External links

* {{coord, 43, 1, 55, N, 87, 56, 10, W, type:landmark, display=title Marquette University Sports venues in Milwaukee