When the pace of daily life slows, there is something about Yorktown that becomes clear: Its people come together.
They support one another. They grieve, honor and lift each other up. They carry legacies forward.
That sense of community will be on full display Saturday, Oct. 17, when Yorktown and Lakeland field hockey players come together for the inaugural Sheridan Gorman Heart of Yorktown Cup, honoring a beloved member of both the local field hockey and Yorktown communities.
The games will be held at Yorktown High School, with the JV matchup at 10 a.m. followed by varsity at 3 p.m.
For Sheridan’s family — Jessica, Tom and Madelon — the day is meant to be about more than competition. Organizers told Yorktown News that the hope is for it to be “a friendship game” celebrating the “kindness, love, and sportsmanship” that reflected Sheridan’s character and the connections she made through field hockey.
A 2025 graduate of Yorktown High School, Sheridan was a member of the girls varsity bowling team, served as manager for the field hockey and lacrosse teams and participated in the school’s Big Buddy peer mentoring program. She went on to attend Loyola University Chicago, where she was a freshman when she was fatally shot in March. She was 18.
Jessica Gorman told Yorktown News in July about a moment that has stayed with her from Sheridan’s senior year. Sheridan had received several awards, including the Yorktown Husker Spirit Award. Gorman said she was proud of her daughter’s accomplishments, but even more proud of who Sheridan was as a person.
After the senior sports dinner, the Gormans were sitting in traffic leaving the venue when Sheridan began to cry.
“I pulled over the car, and I’m like, ‘What’s wrong? Are you OK? What happened?’” Jessica recalled during that July Zoom interview. “And she just looked at me, and she said, ‘Mom, I didn’t know I was loved like that.’”
For Jessica, those words have taken on new meaning since Sheridan’s death. The letters, kind words and gestures of support — including green lights illuminating homes throughout Yorktown — have continually reminded the family of how deeply Sheridan was loved.
“I honestly think that's Sheridan's last gift to us—showing showing us how loved we are,” Jessica said during the call.
The Heart of Yorktown Cup will carry that sentiment onto the field, bringing together Yorktown and Lakeland through the sport Sheridan loved and at the school and in the town she loved so deeply.
The Sheridan Gorman Foundation will award two scholarships, one to a Yorktown senior and one to a Lakeland senior, recognizing student-athletes who embody the qualities of a kind, caring and supportive teammate. Organizers said proceeds will be divided equally between the recipients.
Commemorative T-shirts were sold to support the scholarships. Those who ordered shirts can pick them up at Yorktown High School Oct. 14 or 15 from 4 to 7 p.m.
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