GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A small Catholic college outside Pittsburgh
mourned the loss of a women's lacrosse coach who died along with her
unborn child when the team's bus crashed on the way to a game,
remembering her Sunday as warm, outgoing and a natural leader.
Students and staff packed into Seton Hill
University's century-old Saint Joseph's Chapel for a memorial service
for lacrosse coach Kristina Quigley and other victims of the crash. The
program for the service reads: "In Loving Memory of Kristina Quigley and
Son"
Earlier Sunday, team members and fans at a Seton
Hill baseball game observed a minute of silence for the two crash
victims. With the players in the background on a cold day, students and
other mourners visited a tribute set up in front of a lacrosse net next
to the baseball field that featured bouquets of flowers, stuffed
animals, a lacrosse stick, a whistle and a candle sat in front of a team
photo and signs reading "In memoriam - Kristina Quigley - Forever a
Griffin."
Players and coaches from Seton Hill were among 23
people aboard when the bus crashed into a tree Saturday morning on the
Pennsylvania Turnpike outside Harrisburg. The team was headed to an
afternoon game at Millersville University, about 50 miles from the crash
site in central Pennsylvania. Police are investigating the cause.
Quigley, 30, of Greensburg, died of her injuries at
a hospital, Cumberland County authorities said. Quigley was about six
months pregnant, and her unborn son didn't survive. The bus driver,
Anthony Guaetta, 61, of Johnstown, died at the scene.
Saturday's game and a Sunday home game were canceled after the crash.
Seton Hill is a liberal arts school of about 2,500
students that sits atop a hill in western Pennsylvania's Laurel
Highlands. The campus is a mix of older stone and brick buildings
surrounded by newer ones. The school is also offering grief counseling
to students.
Duquesne University women's lacrosse coach Mike
Scerbo remembered Quigley as a warm, outgoing person who immediately
impressed him when he hired her to be an assistant during the 2008
season. Quigley, a Duquesne alum, spent just one season under Scerbo
before moving to South Carolina to start Erskine College's NCAA Division
II program.
"In that time, I really saw how much passion she
had to be a coach, and how much she enjoyed working with the kids,"
Scerbo said. "She was a teacher, and she wanted to help kids grow and
learn, not just about the sport, but about life."
She spent three years at Erskine before taking the
top job at Seton Hill for the 2012 season. She stayed in touch with
Scerbo, often seeking his guidance and showing up at the Duquesne alumni
game.
"She was a very happy person, very passionate about
life, about her players, about her job and most importantly about her
family," Scerbo said.
Quigley, a native of Baltimore, was married and had a young son, Gavin, the school said.
Two victims flown to Penn State Hershey Medical
Center remained there Sunday, and no information was released about
them. A woman injured in the crash was discharged Sunday afternoon from
another hospital. All others aboard the bus were taken to hospitals as a
precaution, but almost all were treated and released.
Police couldn't immediately say what had caused the
crash. The front side of the bus, which was towed from the scene
Saturday night, was shorn away, and the vehicle came to rest upright
about 70 yards from the highway at the bottom of a grassy slope.
The bus operator, Mlaker Charter & Tours, of
Davidsville, Pa., is up to date on its inspections, which include bus
and driver safety checks, said Jennifer Kocher, a spokeswoman for the
state Public Utility Commission, which regulates bus companies.
The agency's motor safety inspectors could think of
no accidents or violations involving the company that would raise a red
flag, she said, though complete safety records were not available
Saturday.
On Tuesday, another bus carrying college lacrosse
players from a Vermont team was hit by a sports car that spun out of
control on a wet highway in upstate New York, sending the bus toppling
onto its side, police said. One person in the car died.