Notre Dame Prep Names Its New Lacrosse Field After Yeardley Love
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ)-- A life cut short but not the memories. When Yeardley Love was killed after an assault by her boyfriend two years ago, family and friends searched for a way to honor her life. Sunday evening, it was realized on a new athletic field at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson.
Alex DeMetrick was at the dedication and spoke with Yeardley Love's mother.
The new athletic field bears Yeardley Love's name, and those who helped write it here drew together Sunday evening to dedicate it in her honor. Some she knew. Many she didn't.
"So many people-- friends, family, total strangers. None of this would have been possible without these people," Yeardley Love's mother Sharon Love said.
They raised over a million dollars. The need to do something growing from the grief of her killing by her boyfriend at the University of Virginia in 2010.
George Huguely was sentenced to 23 years in prison for her beating death. But it was her life at Notre Dame Preparatory School on the lacrosse field and off that was celebrated.
"Thank you, Yeardley. Thank you for being a part of our lives, for your lasting legacy, for being an optimistic celebration of life," Mary Bartell, the varsity lacrosse coach at Notre Dame Preparatory, said.
A life symbolized by a single candle in a place built for crowds.
"I'm sure she's looking down on her field now, with a big smile on her face, looking forward to seeing the many games played on it," Yeardley Love's sister Lexie Love said.
And for the mother and sister left behind, the field provided something else.
"It gave us focus. It gave us something to work on and look forward to," Sharon Love said.
After so much was lost.
Using pine bows and holy water, Sharon and Lexie Love blessed the field that bears Yeardley Love's name, and the colors of her 2006 graduating class.
Besides the new field, a tuition scholarship fund in Yeardley Love's name has been established.
