For graduate midfielder Will Inderlied, Scott Stadium has been a place mired in childhood memory, from the heartbreak of the Commonwealth Clash to the pulse of the “4th Side.” The son of Mark Inderlied, a kicker for the football team from 1984 to 1988, Will’s first season with the lacrosse program began in 2022 — Klöckner Stadium the site of four years of new memories.
But an 11 a.m. matchup Saturday against Utah in Scott Stadium will see Will land in unexpected territory — his first time playing in the venue his father once did, something neither of them had anticipated.
The Cavaliers are set to play in Scott Stadium for the first time since 2011, when they hosted Maryland. This weekend, coming off a triple-overtime loss against the Terrapins in their home turf SECU Stadium, Virginia will have a chance to land a comeback win of their own, framed by the Hill’s white columns.
As Scott Stadium is also hosting the NCAA men’s lacrosse Championship Weekend in May, Saturday can be seen as a trial run of sorts. The event will be hosted at a college stadium for the first time since 2002 and in Charlottesville since 1982. For a Virginia team hoping to turn around a season already interspersed with close losses, getting an early glimpse of what the setting of the NCAA Tournament could look like has added stakes to defeating a high-scoring Utah squad.
“It's super exciting,” Will said. “Obviously, we want to be there in late May, and this is a good test run for us [to] change things around in the trajectory of our season. But I think that we're going to start doing that this weekend.”
But beyond postseason preparation, for both Will and Mark, Scott Stadium represents a unique connection, as Will will literally stand in his father’s footsteps.
When he was younger, Will’s visits to Scott Stadium often coincided with hearing stories from his father’s playing days at the University. Although Will spent a stretch of his high-school career playing football — as both a quarterback and even a kicker — he ultimately decided to narrow his focus to lacrosse, and anticipated the views from Klöckner Stadium to frame his collegiate career.
“I never thought about [playing in Scott Stadium] before coming to Virginia,” Will said. “I grew up going to a lot of football games … And I remember so many times being [in the] stadium with different friends and different groups, and usually with my dad right there. So it will be kind of wild, even though I didn't get to see him play.”
Mark played under Coach George Welsh in an arena that might look scant to some compared to the recently upgraded video board, thrumming sound and pyrotechnic spouts of flame that mark each home game. In returning to the stadium for his son’s game, Mark anticipates seeing this plethora of changes again, but noted that even after 40 years, the essence and atmosphere of Scott Stadium is timeless.
“Everything's a little flashier than it used to be, but it really when you boil it down, it's really the same,” Mark said. “[It’s] the same place, especially when the game is on the line and everybody's screaming … none of that flashy stuff really matters when your team is about to win.”
Another common thread the Inderlieds share across their different sports is how they have been shaped by their coaches, drawing similarities between Welsh and Coach Lars Tiffany. Mark and Will emphasized the value of Wells and Tiffany keeping their players on their toes, and believe that using unpredictability as a tool when coaching young men can be very effective.
“If you're a coach of 18- to 22-year-olds, you have to be unpredictable, or else … [they] will figure you out,” Mark said. “Good coaches like Welsh and Lars Tiffany, they understand the right mixture of mixing it up with the players, but also being unpredictable, which is [what] I learned a lot from.”
But beyond the fervent energy pulsing through games Mark played in, he said that for him, Scott Stadium was also the setting of quiet moments, and recalled going through the motions of a field goal kick sans wire headsets or screaming fans.
“I also remember being the only one in the stadium where I used to practice as a kicker … I'd be the only one out there in the cold and chasing my own balls,” Mark said. “I had to use a lot of imagination to fill the stadium, because that's what I was really preparing for.”
In anticipating the rows of fans peering into the bowl, eyes transfixed on the center X as the Cavaliers finally make their way back to Scott Stadium, Will also takes a pause in considering the last year of his career.
Despite fewer game appearances this season — Will played in all 14 games during the 2025 season — more opportunities to give back to the lacrosse program have emerged for Inderlied, with leadership and strengthening team relationships becoming a new point of interest.
“I haven't really seen the field too much this year, but it's really allowed me to stand back and take an opportunity to build an amazing relationship with some of my teammates and buy into that,” Will said. “I'm obviously pushing hard to get back on the field and … I think that it'll work out in the end.”
This belief in trusting the process might require some faith, but from father to son and Scott Stadium to Klöckner, the Inderlieds welcome that commitment — and never rule out the element of surprise.
“I never knew we would be watching [Will] play lacrosse at Scott Stadium. Never fathomed that idea,” Mark said. “I think we'll have to spend some extra moments on the field, just reminiscing a little bit and thinking about how funny [it is].”
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