MEMORIES OF A FALLEN TEAMMATE

Parny Hagerman sat in the bleachers at Klockner Stadium on Sunday and wiped away tears with both hands. The Virginia women’s lacrosse team had scored a goal 12 seconds into its first-round N.C.A.A. tournament game against Towson, and the emotions of the moment were set free. For the past four years, Hagerman had joined two other mothers of Cavaliers lacrosse players, Sharon Love and Kitsy Duff, on road trips to see their daughters play. They would usually find outlet malls wherever they traveled, and Love would usually find the perfect gift for her daughter Yeardley, a senior this season who played defense. “Yeardley had a way of hugging her mother that showed how much she cared,” Hagerman said. “She was just the most adorable child any parent would want.” On Sunday, Sharon Love sat in the stands wearing a blue-and-orange ribbon with angel’s wings, as Virginia took a 14-12 victory in its first game since Yeardley Love was found dead in her apartment May 3. George Huguely, who was a senior on Virginia’s men’s lacrosse team and who had dated Yeardley Love, has been charged with first-degree murder. Just before the game ended, Sharon Love and her older daughter, Lexie, were escorted to the field. One by one, the Cavaliers ran up and embraced them. “It was really great to see Mrs. Love and Lexie, because I see Yeardley in them, in their laugh,” Marye Kellermann, a senior attack for Virginia, said. Yeardley Love was honored throughout the game, starting when the often-seen picture of her wearing a Virginia warm-up suit, eyes shining, was shown on the stadium scoreboard. A moment of silence followed, but when the public-address announcer thanked everyone afterward, the crowd of 2,270 remained silent. Finally, a fan a few rows from the field yelled, “Let’s go U-V-A!” The crowd responded with a lengthy and emotional standing ovation. The Virginia players wore warm-up T-shirts that said: “One Team. One Heart. One Love.” They also wore black patches on their jerseys that had the word “LOVE” displayed in white. And the Towson players wore wristbands with Love’s initials on them. “Going out on the field and feeling a sense of emptiness knowing Yeardley’s not there, that’s definitely been the hardest thing the past couple of weeks,” Kellermann said. Less than three minutes into the first half, Virginia led by 3-0, and Klockner Stadium had begun to shake. Towson tied the score five times, but Virginia never trailed, never wavered and never lost track of the afternoon’s focus. When Kaitlin Duff found Charlie Finnigan for the final goal with 1 minute 58 seconds remaining, it did not heal everything or make everything feel as it once did. But it did give the Cavaliers, Sharon and Lexie Love, and plenty of others here a chance to exhale. Caity Whiteley, who was one of Love’s roommates, was one of three Virginia players who scored three goals. “I know I wasn’t ready to be done,” Virginia Coach Julie Myers said. “I don’t think the girls were even close to being ready. We still need to be together as we take the next steps.” Sixth-seeded Virginia (14-5) will face third-seeded North Carolina (16-2) in a quarterfinal match next week in Chapel Hill. On Saturday, the top-seeded Virginia men’s team defeated Mount St. Mary’s to advance to an N.C.A.A. quarterfinal next weekend against Stony Brook. After the women’s game, the Virginia players held up pieces of paper with Love’s No. 1 on them as the Cher song “Believe” boomed over the loudspeaker. The song became something of a team anthem after the Cavaliers’ bus driver played it during trips to Virginia Tech and Maryland last month. Lauren Benner, a junior goalie, said Love and the rest of the team danced and sang along during those bus rides, but on Sunday, the paradox of the song’s chorus — “Do you believe in life after love?”— was not lost. “I mean, love is everywhere,” Benner said. Sunday was the first time the Cavaliers spoke publicly since Love’s death. They remembered her as a caring, gentle young woman who brightened rooms with her smile. Whitaker Hagerman, a senior attack, remembered when Love went to practice as a goalie on April Fools’ Day two years ago and waited for her coaches to notice. Benner remembered the bus rides to road games, when Love would beg for a good back scratch, offering a shoulder massage in return. Kellermann remembered how jittery Love became when she saw squirrels on campus, even if they were 30 feet away. These moments always seemed to end the same way, with Love laughing and that indelible smile returning. “She was just so beautiful inside and out,” Kellermann said. “Every day whoever she was with, she made their day better.” With the win against Towson, Virginia’s season will continue. The players will have another week to pull together, another week to gather memories. After going through two weeks they would like to forget, they are focused on honoring a teammate they hope will never be forgotten. (NY Times)