Meghan Kolze, who was Illinois soccer head coach Janet Rayfield's first team captain back in 2002, remembers playing at the recreational fields on Peabody in Champaign during the Big Ten Tournament. Back then, the fields didn't even have turf, there weren't any real locker rooms and the area didn't feel like home. But that was the norm back then, with college women's soccer low in popularity.
But about 20 years later, Kolze was present for the grand opening of Demirjian Park, one of the nation's top facilities for the sport.
The opening of the new facility, which coincided with the team's season-opener, was exciting for the current and future Illini soccer student-athletes. But with the program celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the facility means even more to all the former players and coaches who paved the way for such an upgrade.
"To play at (Peabody) and now see this, I think your pride just grows more and more the older you get and the more renovations that take place," Kolze said. "Illinois has changed so much in the soccer program. I think there's just value in the program and that makes you so proud to be part of it."
Kolze came to Illinois just two years into the soccer program's birth, but she remembers hearing about plans for a state-of-the-art facility while she was a player. Former Illini Tara Hurless and Amy Feher, who graduated in 2004 and 2014, respectively, also heard promises of facility upgrades during their playing time.
While Kolze, Hurless and Feher never got to play on the new turf or get ready for games in the in-stadium locker rooms, they each had a small part in making it a reality.
"It's something that has been a vision for this program all the way back to the Ron Gunther days, when he established the program and hired Jill Ellis," Rayfield said. "I think there was a vision for what this sort of soccer complex could look like for the University of Illinois for this soccer community in Champaign Urbana. It has been a long time waiting to see that vision become a reality but a lot of kudos to the people that have stuck by that vision, that have persevered through it, the players that have come and continue to build this program without this facility and still said Illinois is where I want to be. A lot of credit to them."
Rayfield, who is now in her 20th season as head coach, believes Demirjian Park puts Illinois soccer on a different plane, giving each student-athlete access to any resource they would need to better their soccer career. While Rayfield said everyone who has come through the program played a part in the park being built, it's clear she has had the biggest impact on the program.
In her tenure with the Illini, Rayfield has led her team to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, including four Sweet Sixteen matches. She has notched 213 wins in her career and just hit 100 Big Ten wins when the Illini beat Maryland on Sunday.
But Rayfield has built more than just a winning environment with Illinois soccer, she has created a giant family that continues to grow.
"Illinois soccer means family," Kolze said. "You come here as a freshman sometimes with your only identity with everybody around you is you play soccer. But by the end of the four years or five years, you really have this close-knit family that extends well beyond the 26 people that are on the team. I can call Janet anytime. I coach soccer and I'll reach out to her and be like 'hey, do you think this student is worthy of scholarship like I need you to watch her.' She's actually come out to a game to watch and given me some advice and I find that to be so crucial."
Along with Kolze, Hurless — a two-time Second-Team All-American — credits Rayfield and her teammates for shaping her into an adult while also giving her lifelong friends.
After her four years playing soccer for the Illini, Hurless made Champaign-Urbana her permanent home. Hurless is now a UI police officer and has started raising a family here. None of that would've happened if she hadn't felt at home with Illinois soccer and Rayfield.
"It's more than just sports because at the end of the day, these teammates are turning you into a young adult," Hurless said. "It says a lot that I haven't left. Now I'm a police officer here so I represented U of I in orange and blue 20 years ago and I'm still doing the same thing now. Now I have a daughter, she's two, so anytime we can go to games, I'm just to be able to share the experiences I had here with my wife and my daughter. It just gives me chills because in fact, my wife played basketball, so she gets what it's like to be a part of a team. But this is totally something else."
The 25th year of Illinois soccer has already been full of milestones. But Rayfield believes this is a new beginning in her 20-year career. Rayfield has had time this year to remember the past success and visualize the future of Illinois soccer.
Demijrian Park is at the forefront of that future. Sure, the facility will help with recruiting and player development, but it's also a physical reminder of the program's history. Having this new opportunity to take Illini soccer to an even higher level is what keeps Rayfield getting up every morning.
"When we opened Demirjian Park, I would consider it a deflection or a trajectory point for this program," Rayfield said. "This program has established itself, especially in terms of just the development of human beings, people. But I think now we have a facility that shows the kind of commitment that this athletic department has to women's soccer. And I think that makes a difference to the players out there who want a place where they can pursue their craft on the soccer field to the fullest. And this says here is an amazing academic institution that's also going to support your athletic dreams, in the sport of soccer, at a level that is unmatched in my opinion. So that's going to take this program to a different place and allow us to sustain excellence."
