Virginia men’s lacrosse player George Huguely was charged with the murder of a fellow U-Va. student-athlete Monday.

As a standout midfielder at Notre Dame Prep in 2006, Caitlyn McFadden was one of a handful of decorated college-bound women’s lacrosse players.

When she arrived in College Park, the Blazers’ star-studded cast was split apart. Three of her teammates opted for Georgetown. Yeardley Love, a Cockeysville native who was McFadden’s friend since middle school, chose Virginia.

Monday, police in Charlottesville, Va., announced the death of Love, who was murdered earlier that morning in her off-campus apartment.

With the tragedy, those same teammates became united again in mourning. The effects of the death have reverberated throughout the close-knit lacrosse community, especially in the Baltimore and Washington areas, where the sport’s importance is unquestioned.

Police have charged George Huguely, a senior Virginia men’s lacrosse player from Chevy Chase, with first-degree murder. As authorities continue to unravel the details of the death, lacrosse teams and leagues at the youth, high school and college levels are feeling its impact. The incident has not only affected the University of Virginia but also the lacrosse community as a whole.

“It’s such a small community, and everybody is connected or knows somebody,” said Ruthie Lavelle, president of Greater Baltimore Lacrosse, a youth lacrosse organization. “It was amazing how fast that news got to Baltimore.”

SHOCKING NEWS

According to a search warrant affidavit, police found Love slain in the bedroom of her Charlottesville apartment early Monday morning.

Police were called at about 2:15 a.m. by Love’s roommate, who reported a possible alcohol overdose. They found her facedown in a pool of blood on her pillow with a swollen right eye and a large bruise on her face, according to the affidavit.

Huguely was arrested a few hours later and charged with murder. He admitted to police that he had kicked through the bedroom door and argued with Love, shaking her and causing her head to repeatedly hit the wall. Huguely is now being held at Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

The two seniors, who police said were at one point romantically involved, were just weeks from graduation. Now, Huguely’s lawyer said Huguely is withdrawing from school.

Even with both collegiate and high school programs in the swing of postseason preparation — the men’s and women’s Division I NCAA Tournaments begin next week — the situation has caused key figures in the sport to take a step back.

“It brings the community together,” Terps’ women’s lacrosse coach Cathy Reese said. “You recognize that lacrosse is just a sport, but these friendships and relationships are things that go way beyond the athletic atmosphere that we’re all in.”

MANY CONNECTIONS

McFadden is the Terp most deeply connected to Love — the two knew each other for seven years before splitting off to play lacrosse at rival schools. Monday afternoon, Reese allowed the senior to leave the campus and go home to her family for a few days.

McFadden declined to comment on the situation.

Terps’ defender Abby Caso played lacrosse in the same conference as Notre Dame Prep at McDonogh School.  She faced Love and McFadden several times throughout her prep career in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland, which Terp players Ellen Cook, Grace Gaeng, Mary Jordan, Sarah Matz, Allie Perkins, Iliana Sanza and Danielle Kirk all competed in during their prep careers.

While no one on the Terps’ men’s team attended school with Love at the all-girls Notre Dame Prep, several within the program have connections to her.

Student assistant coach Pat Hutchinson, a Towson native, was friends with Love. So was long pole Brian Farrell — one of his best friends took her to their prom at Boys’ Latin School.

“Those kids are devastated by this tragedy,” men’s lacrosse coach Dave Cottle said. “They were affected by it, of course. We all were affected by it.”

Huguely, too, had connections to the Terp community.

Before becoming a midfielder for the Cavaliers, he was the starting quarterback and a lacrosse All-American at Landon School in Bethesda. In his time there, he played against three future Terps — attackman Fran Gormley, a Georgetown Prep graduate, and Michael and Mark White, brothers from St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School.

Connections in the sport are a given for players who live in the lacrosse hotbed that is the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

In Baltimore alone, more than 40,000 players make up the youth lacrosse leagues, according to Lavelle. The area regularly sends its talent to top Division I programs on both the men’s and women’s side, with IAAM alumni dotting rosters at top programs such as Virginia, Georgetown and Stanford.

On the men’s side, the Interstate Athletic Conference currently claims 13 alumni in the ACC.

“This is a very well-knitted, close-knitted community,” said Susan Thompson, the executive director of IAAM. “People keep friendships when they play each other.”

MOVING ON

After at one point contemplating a halt to their seasons, both Virginia lacrosse programs decided late last night to continue playing.

Some critics argued the men’s team should have ended its season prematurely, especially in light of the 2006 Duke men’s lacrosse team’s decision to call off the rest of its season amid rape charges against three Blue Devils. Charges against the players were later dropped.

With the announcement, the Virginia men’s team should enter the NCAA Tournament as the prohibitive favorite. The top-ranked Cavaliers are expected to take the top seed when the NCAA releases the tournament field Sunday, and already have two wins against the No. 3 Terps this season.

The No. 5 Virginia women’s team, which is winless against the No. 1 Terps in two games, is also considered a contender for the Final Four.

While the emotional hangover from the incident for the Cavaliers should be considerable, the Terps are still grappling with the loss to their community as well. Each team held a meeting Monday to discuss the tragedy, and both Cottle and Reese said they have made help available to any players needing grief counseling.

“We need to help each other,” Cottle said. “This is something you can never understand. This is something we have to talk about.”

But while they deal with it themselves, the Terps are keeping their thoughts with the Cavaliers.

“It’s a horrible situation for the whole lacrosse community,” Reese said. “Everyone’s asking what we can do, but the reality is there’s not much anyone can do right now but reach out and support our friends at Virginia.”

ceckard@umdbk.com, kyanchulis@umdbk.com