September 18, 2025
Lake-Sumter State College Dedicates Fields at Rogers Stadium to Mike Matulia
By Kyle Coppola
Lake-Sumter State College Dedicates Fields at Rogers Stadium to Mike Matulia
Lake-Sumter State College dedicated its baseball and softball fields to longtime coach and athletics leader Mike Matulia on Wednesday, honoring his role in building the Lakehawks’ athletic program from the ground up.
(LSSC School officials stand with coaches and members of the community that made this happen.)
The newly named Mike Matulia Fields at J. Carlisle Rogers Stadium were unveiled along with new state-of-the-art digital scoreboards, celebrating both the program’s growth and the generosity of its supporters.
Mike relaunched LSSC athletics 27 years ago with a budget of just $25,000, laying the foundation for what has since become a thriving program. College officials described the dedication as a tribute to his vision, passion, and perseverance.
(The LSSC Softball team stands in front of the new scoreboard at J. Carlisle Rodgers Stadium at Mike Matuilia Field.)
“This is also a recognition of the generosity of those who have supported our Lakehawk student-athletes,” the school said in a statement. “When you lift up students, you lift up the community.”
Major contributors to the project include the Rogers Family Foundation, the Matulia family, Rich and Vicki Billings, Rich and Betsy Billings, the Earl and Sophia Shaw Charitable Trust, Tim and Sharon Morris, and Robert and Valerie Thomas.
(The plaque dedicated to the renaming of the LSSC ball fields. This was big day for the future of LSSC Athletics.)
This is a major milestone for LSSC. This program continues to see great success and thrive. The Volleyball team is having a historic start to the season. Excitement for the baseball and softball teams are at an all time high. The school also recently dedicated a brand new beach volleyball facility and started up a men’s and women’s golf team.
Congratulations to everyone who made this happen and thank you to Mike Matulia for the vision he set over 27-years ago that continues to grow each and every year.
Photo Credit – LSSC Athletics
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
