Over the past 12 months, the city of Boston has seen some of the most tragic and unfortunate events in its history. Of course, there were the Boston Marathon bombings last April and on March 26 of this year, Boston Fireman Michael Kennedy and Lieutenant Ed Walsh were killed in a nine-alarm fire on Beacon Street. After each event, Boston showed a tremendous amount of support for the victims and their families.
The University of Massachusetts Boston itself has shown a great amount of support. The Boston Strong logo was painted on the ice in the Clark Athletic Center during this past ice hockey season. At last year’s commencement ceremonies, UMass Boston posthumously awarded Marathon victim Krystle Campbell, a UMass Boston alumna, and created a scholarship in her honor. The school also held a road race to honor the victims and a remembrance ceremony on the first anniversary of the attack. The UMass school system had numerous runners in this year’s Boston Marathon run in honor of Krystle Campbell.
Although the school, as well as the city itself, has shown a great sense of pride and honor after these tragedies, one team has truly gone to great lengths to honor those who have fallen over the last year. The Men’s Lacrosse team, who have always done a great job in helping out the Boston community, truly epitomizes the meaning of  “Boston Strong” with their display honoring the Boston Fire Department and the Marathon first responders.
“We take our program’s involvement in the community very seriously, and it is incredibly important to our program that we celebrate the legacy of service of our university and our lacrosse program’s alumni,” said Men’s Lacrosse Head Coach Tyler Low.
“Not many universities [or] programs have the number of alumni that we do involved in public service, and it is very important to our guys to honor that legacy,” he continued.
Both on and off the field, the lacrosse team is always willing to show their pride for the city of Boston and have numerous ways of doing so. After the Marathon bombings, the team wore Boston Police t-shirts during the warm up before their playoff game against Plymouth State and continued to wear the t-shirts under their uniforms during the game.
The team also had Boston Police Officer Jerry Ajemian give them a send-off speech on the bus before they left for New Hampshire for the game. Not too long after the Beacon Street tragedy that claimed the lives of two firemen, the team replaced their number decals on their uniforms with Boston Fire Department decals while coaches and trainers wore BFD sweatshirts.
While the patches and shirts are a very touching gesture, Coach Low and his team are very much aware of what is most important; playing for their school and their city.
“More so than what we wear, I believe the best way to honor the victims and the first responders in both of these events is with our play on the field. We talk often as a team about how sports can be much more than just a game in certain circumstances such as what our city has been through over the past year, and we don’t take being able to play or coach lacrosse at this level for granted,” said Low.
The anniversary of the Marathon bombings has come and gone, but the memory of that terrible day, along with the loss of two of Boston’s bravest, is still etched in the minds of the players. Currently sitting at 8-8 with one game to play and fighting for position in the Little East Conference Tournament, the team will undoubtedly play out the rest of their season in a way that will make their school and their community proud.
“Any opportunity that we have to show our appreciation to the people who make Boston what it is, we make sure we do that to the best of our abilities,” said Coach Low.
“UMass Boston is a very special place in that we get to take the field and represent our city every game, and these tributes are one way that we choose to do that.”

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"Boston Strong" flags being sold at a recent event