A new statue outside the US Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks pays tribute to Yeardley Love, a Notre Dame Preparatory School alumna and University of Virginia lacrosse player who was killed 10 years ago.
Sitting atop a stone base, the statue depicts Love in uniform, mid-run and carrying a lacrosse stick. The monument is surrounded by a semicircular wall and two benches.
A plaque on the base includes the inscription, “In honor of Yeardley Reynolds Love who exemplified kindness throughout her life and continues to inspire us all through the work of the One Love Foundation,” and a Margaret Mead quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
The statue went up outside the Baltimore County offices of US Lacrosse, the governing body for the men’s and women’s game in the country, earlier this month.
In May 2010, just three weeks before graduation, Love, 22, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, George Wesley Huguely V, a midfielder on the men’s lacrosse team at Virginia.
It was later revealed that Huguely sent threatening texts and emails to Love after their breakup. He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
After the trial, Yeardley’s mother, Sharon, decided to start the One Love Foundation–a combination of her daughter’s lacrosse number and last name–to educate young people about relationship violence.
“I want it to do for domestic violence what Mothers Against Drunk Drivers did for drunk driving,” Sharon Love recently told ESPN.
To date, the organization says it has provided workshops for more than 1.1 million people on unhealthy and healthy relationships.
