Lax Game to Honor Life of Lex Native Morgan McDuffee

This Sunday, March 3, the lacrosse teams from Bates and Skidmore colleges will play non-conference game dedicated to the life and memory of Morgan McDuffee, a student-athlete who graduated from Lexington High School and attended Bates College. 

It's the second-ever meeting between the two teams, who played each other for the first time last year to mark the 10th anniversary of McDuffee's death. Those involved with the game hope to make it an annual event.

McDuffee was a 1997 graduate of Lexington High School, where he was a standout athlete, captaining both the football and lacrosse teams. In 2002, just two months shy of his graduation from Bates, where he captained the lacrosse team, McDuffee was killed while breaking up a fight in Lewiston, Maine.

The lax squads from both Bates and Skidmore have ties to McDuffee: Jack Sandler, the head coach at Skidmore, was a friend and teammate of McDuffee's at Bates, and Bates head coach Peter Lasagna began his tenure while McDuffee was a player there.

This Sunday's game will be held at 2 p.m. at Harvard University’s Soldiers Field Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium.

A foundation has been established in McDuffee's name to support educational efforts surrounding non-violent conflict resolution. Information and opportunities to support the foundation will be available at the game.

Information in this report was provided by Leslie Wilcott-Henrie on behalf of Bates College Athletics.