Rites of Spring
Sheehan Stanwick Burch on Why Local Lacrosse Culture Matters
Lacrosse and Maryland go hand-in-hand, as it does with the Stanwicks—eight college lax-playing siblings raised in Roland Park.
By Corey McLaughlin
Q & A
Cradle of the Game
Lacrosse and Maryland go hand-in-hand, as it does with the Stanwick family, too.
he Stanwicks are arguably Baltimore’s first family of lacrosse, which is arguably the most popular and pervasive team sport in town come spring. Sheehan Stanwick Burch—a National Lacrosse Hall-of-Famer and 1997 Notre Dame Prep alum—is the eldest of eight college lacrosse-playing siblings raised in Roland Park, and she knows the game as well as anyone.
Twenty-three years after she graduated from Georgetown, she’s still the women’s lacrosse program’s all-time leading scorer. Today, Stanwick Burch lives with her husband in Guilford, has four kids who play lacrosse, and works as a CBS Sports Network commentator.
What comes to mind when you think of lacrosse this time of year?
The vibrant scene, everything from youth to college to the professional and post-collegiate games. There are tons of tournaments and games. It feels like our social life revolves around lacrosse. It’s central to us personally. On a larger level, once spring hits, you start to see kids outside with the goals practicing. There’s an excitement that spring is here and just being outside. Our family plays a lot of what we call “three-by”—with small, three-by-three-foot goals—where my siblings and our kids play with a tennis ball, guys and girls mixed, no checking. It’s a great backyard version of the game.
What do you love about the game?
The relationships. Even just covering the college game, when you talk to the players, you sense the bonds that they form. Recently, I’ve had a lot of former teammates that have gone into the Hall of Fame at Georgetown, and going down there for their inductions, it’s 20 years later, and we come back and it’s like no time has passed. I have very few relationships that are like what I’ve had with teammates. Maybe that’s similar with all sports, but with lacrosse, you need to be involved all over the field—offensively and defensively. It’s not separated, like maybe football or some other sports.
“SO I’VE BEEN EXCITED TO JOIN A TEAM WHERE MY IDENTITY WAS RELATED TO BY THE REST OF THE TEAM.”
Where’s your favorite place to watch a game in Baltimore?
I’m biased to Homewood Field. I grew up and live near Johns Hopkins. But I don’t like sitting in the stands. I like to stand by the fence along the sideline, on the sunny side, on the rubber track. You’re so close to the field. That’s my favorite spot.
What’s a local place, not a field, that you associate with lacrosse?
Sammy’s Trattoria in Timonium. Every time I’m there or we go in as a family, we see someone related to lacrosse, whether it is teams coming in from out of town, or high-school teams. When I think of Sammy’s, I think of the penne vodka and then lacrosse people.
