Chrissy Adair does not have an easy job.
The new Glenelg Country girls’ lacrosse coach is taking over for Paige Walton, who coached the Dragons for 24 seasons and won five Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland titles. But Adair and the Dragons are ready for it all. Her ascension was planned: Walton brought her in last season as an assistant head coach with the eventual takeover in mind.
Adair, who grew up near the Dragons’ Ellicott City campus and went to Mount Hebron, was a three-time All-American at Boston College. She coached at George Washington for three seasons and was twice named Atlantic 10 Conference coach of the year. She stepped away from coaching to start a family but came back to the club circuit and, eventually, to Glenelg Country.
“I probably mimic my coaching after my play,” she said. “I was an aggressive midfielder, competitive. … At this level, a lot of the girls come in with the basics already, and now we can kind of work more on strategy.”
Adair also has pieces to work with. The Dragons lost nine seniors from last year’s team, including first and second-team All-Met honorees Blair and Regan Byrne. But goalie Natalie Eastwood and midfielders Maggie Flanagan and Lilly Fortin form the core of the No. 3 team in the The Washington Post’s preseason rankings.
(All records from last season)