Lauren Spierer was chosen to play for her high school varsity lacrosse team as a freshman, but she had to quit when she was diagnosed with a heart condition.
When she went missing, the players on the IU women’s lacrosse club said they felt a connection to the female IU student with a passion for the sport they play, and they knew they had to get involved.
“Lauren is a part of the Hoosier family, and we want to help out,” sophomore and club Vice President Holly Morrow said in an email. “She could have easily been one of our teammates, sisters, or friends, and we know we would want someone doing the same thing for us.”
On Saturday at Evan Williams Field behind the University Gym, the members will dedicate play to Lauren in an effort to honor her and to raise awareness about her.
Players from all of the teams competing will wear light-blue T-shirts that have “findlauren.com” written in a lacrosse stick on the front. They will also wear light-blue ribbons that feature the website link and #findlauren with a heart in between.
Attendees will receive light-blue findlauren.com wrist bands and informative cards about Lauren. The members also encourage spectators to show support for the efforts to find Lauren by wearing blue.
“I read that it is Lauren’s favorite color,” club advisor Andi Gitelson said. “Blue is what (her family) picked, so the bracelets are a blue color, and the ribbons are blue. That’s what their whole campaign has been.”
The first game will begin at 9 a.m., and in addition to IU, teams from Michigan State, Western Kentucky, St. Louis University and Lakeshore Lacrosse Club will compete.
Morrow said it is important to spread awareness about Lauren’s disappearance to people outside Indiana.
“We knew this weekend was perfect because the five teams playing represent five different states — Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Missouri,” Morrow said in an email. “Each team has roughly 20 players who will be able to bring Lauren’s story back to their campus and raise awareness of her disappearance.”
Gitelson said she also thought Saturday would be a good day to have the event because students have returned from spring break.
“We figured with the timing of our play day, after spring break, it’s been quiet,” Gitelson said. “Just letting people know and reminding them, we thought it’d be a perfect fit to help.”
Gitelson said she and the club members feel it is important to keep Lauren’s story in the public eye.
She also said they hope the awareness raised from the event brings information about Lauren’s whereabouts.
“We feel like it’s a good way to honor Lauren and to promote awareness to people to keep their ears open and listen,” Gitelson said. “If you have to ask, ‘Should I report this?’ you probably should. Even if it seems like a tiny piece of information, the littlest thing might help.”
