"Chris can relate very well to us and we all respect her," said senior lacrosse stand-out Allison Aldrich. "She knows the game very well and she's able to effectively relate her expertise to us."
Paradis honed this expertise as a member of the College of William and Mary's lacrosse team and also as a player on the U.S. National and World Cup Lacrosse teams. Before spearheading Amherst's squad, Paradis gained coaching experience as an assistant for well-respected programs at Springfield College and Yale University.
After Amherst's 2003 championship run, Paradis earned awards from a number of sources, including the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse Division III Coach of the Year, the IWLCA National Coach of the Year, the WomensLacrosse.com Division III Coach of the Year and the IWLCA New England Coach of the Year. Despite her multitude of recent and past successes, Paradis remains honored by this newest accolade.
"It had added meaning to be inducted with two respected colleagues, my high school coach being one of them," Paradis said. The other colleague she referred to is none other than the head coach of NESCAC rival (and last year's national runner-up) Middlebury College, Missy Foote. "It was a great honor," concluded Paradis.
With the awards behind her, however, Paradis is sure to be planning for an eagerly-awaited 2004 campaign to follow up last year's championship run. Practices begin on Feb. 15 for all NESCAC spring sports and Amherst opens its home slate on March 23 against Wheaton College.
The New England native's players look forward to taking to the fields once again with Paradis at the helm. "She has an amazing love of the game that is contagious and she knows exactly what to say to make us want to be better players," said Aldrich.