Skidmore College

"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"

"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. "