It was a cheer-off, of sorts. Lana Vogler beamed as she swished her pom-poms and flicked her skirt’s red and blue fringe, moving seamlessly through a repertoire of choreographed dances. The fans in Gillette Stadium responded with rapturous chants and the blare of bagpipes.
As a New England Patriots cheerleader, 22-year-old Vogler — a Northeastern University student — has entertained football fans at the stadium on the outskirts of Boston since 2024. But the squad is leading the cheering for a different kind of football fan these days — the ones now gathered for the FIFA World Cup tournament.
During the regular Patriots season, members of the 30-person squad dance and amp up the crowd from the sidelines over marathon three-hour sessions. For the World Cup, the squad has performed from a foot-tall, cordoned-off stage on the concourse near the stadium’s lighthouse, where they can interact directly with fans. They pulled from a slate of 20 routines, dancing in the hour before kickoff, during the first hydration break — a new rule that requires players to break for three minutes at the middle of each half of the match — and in “dance battles” with fans from the Jumbotron.
“We’re putting our best foot forward, and everyone’s so locked in to make this experience unforgettable, because you never know what comes out of it,” Vogler told Northeastern Global News.
Read more at Northeastern Global News
Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
