Since she was a star athlete in New England, it makes sense that Halifax native Chelsea Shaughnessy would be working in sports now that her playing days are over.
This is the case with Shaughnessy, a Halifax native who graduated from Silver Lake in 2008. This past fall, she wrapped up her third season as the women’s soccer coach at Mitchell College, a Division 3 program in New London, CT.
The Mitchell College Mariners went 2-10-1 this past fall in what was more of a rebuilding season. The team only had three seniors on its roster, an indication that they are working their way back up. After all, Shaughnessy has already enjoyed some success in her tenure coaching the team.
In her first season as the Mariners head coach, Shaughnessy helped the team to a New England Collegiate Conference Championship appearance. A season later, her Mariners also made an appearance in the conference tournament.
After graduating college in 2012 with a degree in sports management, Shaughnessy gained coaching experience as an assistant at Johnson and Wales University for three seasons.
During her own athletics career, Shaughnessy was a standout. Not only did she excel as a multi-sport athlete at Silver Lake, playing soccer, basketball and softball, but she also achieved that ultra-rare feat at the next level during her tenure at Nichols College. The big difference in college, however, is that she picked up lacrosse as her spring sport.
During her Lakers career, Shaughnessy was recognized as an All-Scholastic athlete by the Brockton Enterprise and was named a Patriot League All-Star in multiple sports. In college, she was a three-time all-conference player in soccer. In lacrosse, she scored 55 goals in three seasons and in basketball she Nichols’ single-season record for steals (115) during the 2011-2012 season.
Since she was a standout athlete on multiple playing surfaces during her playing career, it should come as no surprise that she also serves as an assistant coach for Mitchell College’s women’s lacrosse team. Plus, she also coached basketball and lacrosse during her tenure at JWU. That said, Shaughnessy has used her success as an athlete to help others to also be the best player they are capable of being.