Virginia women's lacrosse wins in return after teammate's death
With 10 minutes to go, two women started to make their way down the stands toward the Virginia bench.
They were Yeardley Love's mother and sister. And on this day — with grief and remembrance evident at every turn — the coach of the Cavaliers wondered if maybe this was just what they needed.
The women's lacrosse team was playing for the first time since Love was slain two weeks ago. The score was tied when her mother, Sharon, and sister, Lexie, headed toward the team. And it would not be long before Virginia surged past Towson to win 14-12 and reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
"When they came down, and I saw them kind of walking up behind our team, I felt like we were going to suddenly be OK," Virginia coach Julie Myers said. "I felt like they were going to kind of be our extra emotion on the side."
There surely was no shortage of emotion this afternoon at Klockner Stadium. The players wore shirts under their jerseys with the phrase "One Team. One Heart. One Love." They had black patches on the front of their jerseys with the word "LOVE" in white letters.
Towson wore orange wristbands with "Y.L." in dark blue. The Towson players gave their counterparts pins of an angel carrying a lacrosse stick and wished them well the rest of the season.
"This was obviously much more than just a game today," Myers said.
Virginia player Whitaker Hagerman said she felt Love's presence all game.
"We had to go out there, we had to play a game, we had to play lacrosse, and we had to play well," Hagerman said.
And they were at their best once the Love family arrived. Brittany Kalkstein scored, giving the Cavaliers a 12-11 lead. Then it was Caity Whiteley, the roommate who found Love's battered body on May 3, making it 13-11.
The Cavaliers (14-5) held on, experiencing a game none had ever imagined, and will play at Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina next weekend.
Myers called this game a "huge hurdle," and now the team will be together for another week. There will be more time to play, more time to heal.
"I know I wasn't ready to be done," said the coach, whose players were speaking publicly for the first time since the death. "I don't thing the girls were even close to being ready, either, partly because we're really competitive ... but also because we need to be together as we take these next steps. Emotionally we've been through an awful lot."
Before the game, during a moment of silence for the senior defender, Hagerman said she spent time talking to Love. Both were expected to graduate next Sunday. Also expected to graduate that day was George Huguely, the men's lacrosse player charged with first-degree murder in Love's death.
"I was saying, 'Be out here with us,' and she definitely was. The entire 60 minutes," Hagerman said. "It was amazing, and it was great to come out with a win at the end."
As the final seconds ticked down, fans in the crowd of 2,270 chanted "UVA UVA" and clapped in unison as the players huddled and went to shake hands with Towson. In the background, Cher's one-time hit "Believe" played. The song features the lyrics "Do you believe in life after love?"
"They played a great game in spite of everything today, and that's what we wanted from them," said Jacie Kendall, who scored four goals for Towson (13-5).
Nikki Marcinik and Hillary Fratzke each scored three, but Virginia goalie Lauren Benner stopped several other good scoring chances for the Tigers, making six of her nine saves after halftime.
The Cavaliers started with three quick goals. Towson pulled ahead 5-4 before Virginia scored the next three goals. The Tigers tied it at 10 and 11, but never regained the lead.
Charlie Finnigan and Julie Gardner scored three times each for the Cavaliers, who were missing three starters because of torn knee ligaments sustained in the past six weeks.
Mostly, though, they were missing Love.
Fans unfurled a banner that said "1-2-3-4, together, Hoos," a reminder of how Love once botched the team's huddle-breaking cheer by counting to four instead of the usual three. At Love's funeral last weekend in Maryland, Myers said her team will count to four from now on.
