Portsmouth girls lacrosse plays Souhegan to benefit One Love Foundation
PORTSMOUTH – Adversaries on the field, they came together for a common cause off it.
That was the case Thursday night when the Portsmouth High School girls lacrosse team hosted Souhegan at Tom Daubney Field in support of the One Love Foundation.
The squads met for the second year in a row and are optimistic the game will grow into an annual event. Portsmouth and Souhegan met in last year’s inaugural contest and joined forces with Bedford this season with each team hosting a One Love game.
One Love is a non-profit organization with the goal of ending relationship abuse and honors the life and legacy of Yeardley Love, a senior lacrosse player at the University of Virginia who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend on May 3, 2010 just three weeks before she was scheduled to graduate.
“Obviously, the One Love Foundation is very close to the lacrosse community and it affected it pretty significantly,” said Portsmouth coach JoJo Curro.
Thursday’s game also pitted sister versus sister. Souhegan coach McKinley Sbordone is Curro’s sister and played against Yeardley Love in tournaments and showcases while both were coming up through the ranks. Sbordone played college lacrosse at Boston University and graduated in 2010.
“(Love’s death) was horrific,” Sbordone said. “This beautiful young girl who had everything going for her, her life was just taken for no reason. It was terrible. I don’t think enough people know about that. It’s not something people talk about.”
That’s what One Love strives to change.
“I think the whole organization is super important and not just to the lacrosse community,” said Portsmouth senior co-captain Charlotte Marston. “It applies to everybody. It spreads awareness of relationship violence and how to handle it. It gives you ways to combat what’s going on.”
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“We think it’s important that these young girls know what it looks like and how to be aware of it,” Sbordone said.
The organization was created in 2010 by Yeardley’s mom, Sharon, and sister Lexie to provide young people with the knowledge to identify and avoid abusive relationships.
“I didn’t know then what I know now, that relationship abuse is a public health epidemic and that young women in Yeardley’s age group are at three times greater risk than any other demographic,” Sharon Love is quoted as saying on the organization’s website.
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“I think it’s a really good organization especially how relevant it is to us being teenage girls,” said Portsmouth senior co-captain Maggie Parker. “The message is just standing up for ourselves and looking for the red flags. It’s something to raise awareness about.”
The local games also serve as fundraisers.
“Any way we can spread awareness and raise money for a good cause and one that we fully back I think is very important,” Curro said. “We were talking about doing a game with a message behind it and we felt like One Love was close to our hearts.”
"It hits close to home," Sbordone said. "We want to make sure we can share and help build awareness and submit funds to bring the foundation to the next level."
For Thursday’s game the Clippers wore blue shirts, the dominant color of One Love, with the logos of all three schools that participated this year on the front including a Souhegan Saber and a Bedford Bulldog.
“JoJo and I are both passionate about the game but we’re also passionate about making the kids better people,” Sbordone said. “It’s bringing two things together. It’s bigger than just the game of lacrosse. Ultimately this is something that’s going to help them in their life beyond lacrosse.”
According to the website, One Love is the national leader in preventing relationship violence and abuse.
The website further states, “One Love empowers young people with the tools and resources they need to see the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships and brings life-saving and prevention education to their communities.”
“It’s definitely nice to play for something bigger than yourself,” Marston said. “I think a lot of times we get out here and we do represent our school and ourselves but when we can represent a bigger organization and what they stand for and spread awareness it’s really great.”
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Portsmouth defeated Souhegan, 17-3, to finish the regular season 15-2 and on an eight-game win streak in its first season in Division I.
Avery Ruhnke led a balanced attack in which eight players scored. Ruhnke finished with four goals while Annie Parker added three goals and an assist. Morgan Ruhnke had a hat trick, Charlotte Marston added two goals and an assist, and Ginger Vinciguerra scored twice.
Maggie Parker, Anya Bake and Lily Patterson also scored for the Clippers.
Souhegan's Emma Kennedy had two of her team's three goals.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth, Souhegan girls lacrosse benefit One Love Foundation
