Lacrosse Team Plays, Wins First Match Without Slain UVa. Student Yeardley Love

May 17, 2010 — -- The University of Virginia's women's lacrosse team took to the playing field Sunday without Yeardley Love, and for the first time they talked about their teammate, the senior who was allegedly killed by her ex-boyfriend.

Love's mother Sharon, and sister, Lexie, watched from the stands at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va., as the Cavaliers played a fiercely contested game at the start of the NCAA tournament.

The nationally ranked Cavaliers won 14 to 12. Their victory was for Love.

"That was truly awesome. I think that was just Yeardley being with us," said Whitaker Hagerman, one of the players. "To have her in the back of our minds the entire game, everything just fell into place."

"She was an absolutely unforgettable person," Marye Kallermann, a team member, said. "When you met her, you just loved her, she was great. My very best friend … ."

Love's roommate found her body in an off-campus apartment on May 3. Police said there was obvious evidence of trauma to the 22-year-old's body.

George Huguely, the varsity lacrosse player charged with first-degree murder in the killing, had a history of violent behavior including several run-ins with the law.

Waiving his Miranda rights, Huguely told Charlottesville police that he had kicked through the door to Love's bedroom. Police documents said Huguely told investigators that he shook Love and her head banged into the wall several times.

Patches on the Cavaliers' jerseys bore Love's last name, and the opposing team, Towson, also her initials on wristbands.

"For me, it's been really hard, but I don't know where I'd be without my team and all my close friends," said Caity Whiteley, Love's teammate and the roommate who discovered her body. "Playing today meant a lot, and it's obviously not normal, but I feel like every day we're getting stronger, finding out what we need from each other."

When the buzzer sounded and the Cavaliers were the winner, the team players stood together and held sheets of paper -- each bearing Love's number 1 -- high in the air.

Lexie Love bowed her head and cried.

Kallerman said she would never forget her friend.

"I am going to try … my best to make sure the world doesn't forget what a good person she was," she said.

The top-seeded University of Virginia men's team won its first-round NCAA tournament game Saturday, 18-4, over Mount St. Mary's.

Questions have been raised about how much was known about Huguely's history, and the case has already resulted in major policy changes at the school and in the state.

The governor of Virginia has called for changes the reporting of criminal records. Speaking on "Good Morning America" last week, Gov. Bob McDonnell said the murder might have been prevented if someone who knew about the accused's violent history had spoken up.

"I think the broader question is, there's ways to get information to administrators obviously from police, from court records, but it brings the larger question of the obligation to all of us in our society [that] if we see things that look wrong or strange behavior or violent behavior, to really be more involved," McDonnell said. "Particularly in domestic-related situations, can other people intervene because they see things going on... and maybe this could have been prevented."

McDonnell said he met with UVA President John Casteen to discuss what can be done legally to make sure administrators are aware a student's violent history on or off campus in hopes of avoiding a repeat of what he called "an unprecedented tragedy.

"There's reviews going on now. We're conducting our own look at the facts after all the investigation is done," he said. "When the general assembly comes back next year, we can make those changes."

Huguely's mother has said she is "devastated and confused" by what her son is accused of doing.

"As a mother, I never expected to be in a situation like this," Marta Murphy said in a statement Tuesday. "Though my pain is great, it will never come close to the anguish felt by the Love family...The pain [her mother Sharon] and her family are suffering is something that no family should ever have to endure."

Murphy said she knew Love because of her son's long relationship with her.

"Yeardley was part of our lives... She was a sweet wonderful young woman with a limitless future. We also know her mother, Sharon," she said.

While Murphy said she is grieving and praying for Love's family, she also said she will stand by her 22-year-old son, who was accused in her killing.

"I hope that people can understand that both George's father and I love our son. We will support George in whatever way we can -- just as any mother or father would do for their child," she said.

"As a person of faith, I continue to pray for the Love family, for Yeardley's friends and, for my son George," Murphy said.