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The Maryland SoccerPlex at the South Germantown Recreational Park in Boyds is getting ready to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2010.

The 162-acre sports complex, owned by the nonprofit Maryland Soccer Foundation and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, had a successful year despite the sluggish economy, said Trish Heffelfinger, executive director of the foundation, at the SoccerPlex's annual report to the Planning Board on Dec. 17.

"Despite a difficult economy, this year we experienced continued growth," she said, adding that the foundation expects to have $2 million in reserve funds by the end of 2010.

The SoccerPlex is in "excellent financial shape" and valued around $30 million, Al Warfield, acting secretary-treasurer for the bicounty commission, said. The foundation is one of the parks department's largest and most cooperative partners and has "exceeded the department's expectations" since the facility opened in 2000, parks staff wrote in its annual report.

Business from non-sporting events, such as trade shows, was down in 2009 and expected to remain slow, Heffelfinger said. More than 5 million people have visited the sports complex since it opened and the foundation plans to study utilization of its fields next year to determine how much excess capacity is available.

"We had to turn some people away because we didn't have the available time on our fields," Heffelfinger said.

Plans for 2010 include installing a video screen, scoreboard and sound system at the SoccerPlex's stadium and working with leagues on reducing use of disposable water bottles, Heffelfinger said. An estimated 200,000 bottles are disposed every year at the facility, which recycles, she said.

The foundation will also work with soccer goal manufacturer Kwik Goal to develop safe moveable goals that can be used on artificial turf fields, Heffelfinger said.

The Washington Freedom women's professional soccer team, which made the SoccerPlex its home stadium in 2009, had an average game attendance of 4,200 visitors and finished the season ranked third out of seven teams, according to Planning Board documents. A beer garden operated before home games was popular and ran without incident, the documents state.

The foundation hired a new turf manager this year who is studying ways to maintain fields without using fungicides, Heffelfinger said. The facility's three synthetic turf fields, which were installed in late 2007 and have been a "huge revenue generator," were the only fields in the county in use on some rainy weekends this fall, she said. Ten days of games were canceled in 2009 due to rain and half of the tournaments played at the SoccerPlex had some games canceled because of weather, she said.

The Soccer Association of Montgomery, the foundation's soccer league, continued to grow, according to Planning Board documents, and its summer camp with the Washington Freedom had 111 children enrolled, up from 79 in 2008.