"If she was a good coach her record would show. Creates a poor team culture. Picks favorites and it is not based on performance."

"She is brutally honest but it’s for the better of the team"

"Ghilardi uses manipulation and abusive tactics in order to control her players. If she was a good coach-maybe some of the mind games would be acceptable. However, frequent over working players, leading to extensive injuries, and poor game day decisions leads to bad season after bad season. Her favorite way to control players is to pit them against each other and often attempts to isolate players through bad mouthing friends and family members. This dynamic frequently leads to a coach vs the entire team ideology across the skidmore womens lacrosse seasons. "

"When I got recruited, Ghilardi seemed like a kind and respectful person, but I soon learned that was a facade that has tricked many other athletes during their recruiting. Ghilardi loves playing favorites, giving specific people all her attention and support until one day, they get dropped completely and passed on for the next person. Her favor not only determines playing time and starting positions, but also how you are treated amongst the coaches. No one, not even captains, are secure in their position on the team. You can go from being a starter to being placed so deep in the bench you won’t play until next year without a word. I can’t remember an individual meeting day where I didn’t need to console 3-5 people after because they were devastated and insulted by what they were told. Countless of her players have lost their love of the sport by the time they graduated. If she was simply rude and condescending to her players that would be one thing, but she has also been terrible to her own assistant coach in front of her players. Her open criticism and lack of support caused younger players to join her in the maltreatment of the assistant. All of her faults could at least be justified if she was a decent coach at the end of the day, but alas her record speaks for itself. Countless poor game time decisions and psychological mind games causes her teams to implode game after game. I wouldn’t recommend this team to anyone for the sole fact that I wouldn’t want anyone to have to experience this toxic environment."

"Great coach, even better person. Cares about her players as people first. Committed to helping her players succeed off the field, on the field and in life. An amazing role model."

"Elizabeth was instrumental to my success at Skidmore. Not only did she bring in awesome people who ended up being my best friends, she also set us up to do the best we could on and off the field. She is a direct and honest communicator and that was extremely valuable to me and helped shaped me and prepared me for the real world. We consistently had fun as a team and I will forever look back on all our traditions, spring break trips, and locker room memories. I cannot say enough good things about Elizabeth and the Skidmore women’s lacrosse team and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great coach, competitive atmosphere, and even better people. "

"I have been playing sports all of my life. I have been on many different teams, clubs, and have had many different experiences, but there is no doubt that Coach Ghilardi is the worst of the worst. She is disrespectful, dishonest, and overall a bully. She gets players to trust her at first so that they tell her personal things, but she will end up holding those things against them and also tell them to other teammates. She has extremely poor communication skills and expects everyone to know what she is thinking. She is extremely rude and loves to hold players against each other to create divides between teammates, but also says that she strives for the best team culture. I don’t know how she is still around and it breaks my heart still seeing players so drained and sad, all because of Coach Ghilardi"

"Team culture fosters bullying and emotional toxicity rather than support and accountability. Player mental health does not seem to be of any concern to Coach Ghilardi. Communication feels disrespectful, and there has been significant assistant coach turnover. Overall, the environment is very negative, don’t commit here."

"two words: emotionally abusive. "

"Coach Ghilardi is not the same person that recruited you once freshman season begins. It is clear from the beginning she will pick favorites and they will do no wrong in her eyes. Her “favorites” could make a mistake during a game and not be pulled out, however a “non-favorite” could make that same mistake and would immediately be pulled from the game. She will talk about players behind their back and put them against one another. It does not make for a cohesive team as you can see from the previous year’s records. The environment created comes from the top down and if all players do not feel valued, there is no way to create a winning team. She is on her third assistant coach in just a matter of a few years. She is very good at robbing you from the joy of lacrosse. Should a player have the unfortunate experience of having a medical issue or injury, you immediately become of no value to her. The support is not there and there is no opportunity to feel valued from that point on. Should a player ask how they can improve, she will not provide you with a direct answer. Coach cuts players and does not stay committed to them once on the team. "

"Think long and hard before committing to playing for this woman. Gaslighting, dishonesty and manipulation is how she gets players to come to her program and then you see her true colors. She behaves like a middle school bully who talks about players to other players behind their backs sharing their personal information violating trust. She can’t retain assistant coaches or managers due to her disrespectful behavior. So many red flags-beware. Her unsuccessful record speaks for itself "

"knowledgeable & forgiving "

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" I was initially recruited to play lacrosse at Skidmore College, which was a significant opportunity for me. Unfortunately, I had to make the difficult decision to quit the team due to several reasons, primarily related to my mental health challenges and the dynamics with the coach, Ghilardi. During my time on the team, I found Coach Ghilardi to be cold and hurtful in her approach to motivating players. Her coaching style often involved pointing out our flaws and weaknesses, with the belief that this would push us to improve. However, instead of motivating us, it created a constant fight or flight mentality within the team. Her tactics seemed to undermine our self-esteem rather than boost our confidence. One of the most concerning aspects of my experience was the high turnover rate on the women's lacrosse team. This suggests that I wasn't the only one who felt this way. It's disheartening to witness Coach Ghilardi seemingly taking advantage of her players' vulnerabilities, which contradicts the importance she preaches about mental health. Although Coach Ghilardi may emphasize mental health, my fellow teammates often reported feelings of stress, unhappiness, and disappointment. It's evident that her coaching style had a detrimental impact on our well-being. She not only failed to support us mentally but also came across as a dream crusher and a bully, making it an unpleasant and unhealthy environment for student-athletes. I hope that the Skidmore College administration can address these issues to create a healthier and more supportive environment for student-athletes, where both physical and mental well-being are taken into consideration."

"Coach Ghilardi promotes a toxic environment on the team. Her favoritism puts players against each other causing cattiness and bullying amount the teammates. No one feels secure in their position and thus every player is fighting for their position taking their own teammates down along the way. If you do find yourself in Coach’s good graces, then your fellow teammates will retaliate against you. This creates a toxic environment where the players self esteem is sabotaged. I do not recommend coming to Skidmore to play Women’s lacrosse under any circumstances. She has also cut recruits. Beware!!"

"Choach Ghilardi ruins lacrosse for people who have grown up loving it and as a result has also negatively impacted entire college experiences. She doesn’t value getting to know her players, their preferred coaching styles and they ways to give and receive feedback that work best for them. She thinks everyone needs to respond well to her style- she once yelled at the team telling us we were all “too soft” in response to one of her players crying after she yelled and tore them apart on the sideline of a game. She doesn’t understand the importance of family conflict or mental health. Death of a family member or school friend is not important nor does she understand why it would affect you- that is until it is within the team. We’ve had captains quit… we’ve had almost entire grades quit and if you try and have a conversation letting her know that the team is going to lose more people for x, y and z reasons, she will turn it on you and say the information you are giving isn’t true and that you’re just upset with how your season is going. Her team has literally had a team counselor before and she refused to adapt to the suggestions that the counselor gave. "

"Undoubtedly a regrettable experience. Ghilardi only plays favorites (and those whose families donate significantly), runs them into the ground, and doesn't care to give any other players a chance. Dreadful team culture of starters vs. people who never see the field (not because they're bad, but because they aren't on coach's pedestal). An overworked team of bench players with false hopes of playing time when starters will continue to see the field even through injury. Cannot stress enough that no matter how good you are, if you are not a favorite, you won't play and if you ask for reasons, there will be no solid ones in response. During my time, over a dozen people quit (I wish that I was one of them), and the rest of us banded together to commiserate over our poor experience on the team. Skidmore is a great school, but this team and coaching experience ruined the sport for me and many others, in addition to amplifying mental health struggles with little to no support from the coaching staff. "

"Ghilardi is cold and hurtful. Her idea of motivation is by putting her players down creating a constant fight or flight mentality. She points out flaws and believes that will make her players want to change but it only makes it worse. The women’s lacrosse team has the highest quit rate for a reason. She is unfair and takes advantage of her player’s vulnerabilities. She preaches mental health but if you asked the players how they were doing, you’d find that they’re stressed, unhappy and disappointed- to name a few common symptoms. She’s a dream crusher and a bully. "

"Great during the recruiting process. Knows and loves the game. Not the most personable. "

"Highest quit rate of all teams. I think she is rude and makes players feel uncomfortable. Creates a horrible team culture and favors players. "

"Not in favor of players mental health. Only cares about her athletes as players and not people. "

"Was a bystander to bullying on and off the field. Created a hierarchy. Treated players with injuries or health issues poorly. Impatient with teaching plays, didn't give players a second try. Put pressure on players to preform instead of encouraging them to succeed. Didn't encourage academics first. "

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"Talks a lot about team culture and community, but fosters an environment of tension and social hierarchy/groups. Doesn't ever reach out to support you as a player unless you're a favorite. Seems very distant and unfriendly compared to other DIII coaches. "