On March 16, Seton Hill University (SHU) held a memorial mass in St. Joseph Chapel at 7 p.m. to commemorate the anniversary of the women’s lacrosse team bus accident and to remember the late Coach Kristina Quigley, her unborn son Jackson, and bus driver Anthony Guaetta.
Last year, a bus carrying the SHU women’s lacrosse team crashed into a tree on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The team was heading to a game against Millersville University. There were 23 students and three coaches on the bus. Pregnant Coach Quigley and bus driver Anthony Guaetta were killed in the accident.
The Mass centered on remembering the victims of the bus crash. Interim President Bibiana Boerio opened the service with a proverb that Coach Quigley had repeated to her team frequently: “Patience is a virtue.” Boerio urged everyone present to stop and take time to appreciate their lives and the people in them. Monsignor John Regoli continued the theme of patience throughout the mass.
“Patience takes time and time demands trust,” said Msgr. Regoli. “We need to trust that we are in God’s hands.”
Family, friends, faculty and students attended the memorial that included various hymns, prayers and readings.
“Today, the Seton Hill Women’s Lacrosse Team and the Seton Hill community pause to remember the lives lost on March 16, 2013,” said women’s lacrosse head coach Courtney Tamasitis Grove.
Coach Quigley went to Dundalk High School before attending Duquesne University. She started coaching at SHU in 2012. During her time coaching the Women’s Lacrosse Team, Coach Quigley had a reputation of being a strict yet nurturing coach.
“Coach Quigley was so enthusiastic about lacrosse – she lived the sport in everything she did – and she considered this team to be part of her family. We were her girls, and we will do everything we can to honor her memory,” said senior SHU women’s lacrosse player Morgan Cain.
A tree was planted on campus by the Field House in memory of the late Coach Quigley.