WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The preeminent head coach in the 40-year history of the Eastern Connecticut State University women's soccer program as measured by any quantifiable metric, Christian

D'Ambrosio has been selected to the Eastern Athletics Alumni Hall of Fame, as announced by Hall of Fame chair Scott Smith.
 
D'Ambrosio, a Coventry native who coached the first 22 years of the 21^st century before stepping down at the conclusion of the 2021 season, coached and won roughly 60 percent of the program's matches. He is the program's coaching leader in years coached, matches coached (412), wins (240), winning percentage (.625), wins per season (10.9), post-season tournament appearances (8), Little East Conference regular-season titles won or shared (9) and LEC playoff championships (4).
 
D'Ambrosio is the third announced member of the five-person Class of 2026, following the announced induction of former four-year All-Little East Conference volleyball player Adrianna Mihalek '17, who maintains the program standard for career kills; and Max Fantl '10, a former four-year All-LEC forward and two-time LEC Offensive Player-of-the-Year in soccer and an all-conference lacrosse midfielder and four-year member of the program.
 
The 32nd induction ceremony  is scheduled for October 17, 2026 at 5 p.m. at the campus's Fine Arts Instructional Center's Concert Hall and Lobby, with a social to follow. For ticket information, contact Scott Smith at 860-465-4326 or at smithsc@easternct.edu.
 
Prior to serving as head coach for 22 seasons, D'Ambrosio served as assistant coach under Matt Paton for the 1998 and 1999 seasons following an 11-year stint as head coach of the girls' soccer program at Coventry High School.
 
D'Ambrosio's Eastern's teams were ranked in the USC Division III national Top 25 a total of 15 times and in the USC New England regional poll 80 times. En route to winning a program-record 16 matches and going unbeaten (16-0-5) through the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, the 2010 team was ranked as high as eighth nationally and held the No. 1 ranking in New England for four straight weeks. A three-time LEC Coach-of-the-Year, D'Ambrosio was named USC Regional Coach-of-the-Year on the merits of that 2010 season.
 
Noted Eastern director of athletics Lori Runksmeier upon D'Ambrosio's retirement: "Christian has served the Eastern athletics department with distinction and has made countless women better athletes, better students and better citizens."
 
D'Ambrosio assumed the reins at Eastern nine years following the retirement of program founder Beth Regan '79, who coached the team through its first six years (1986-91) on the intercollegiate level.  Regan's impact upon the establishment and development of the program was never lost on D'Ambrosio.
 
Beginning in his second season as head coach in 2001, D'Ambrosio's team won ten or more matches for 11 straight seasons, and after falling one win shy of double digits in 2012, reeled off four straight seasons of ten or more wins, including three straight seasons of 13 victories.

"I truly admire Beth for the leadership, mentorship, dedication, commitment and personal sacrifice she made to start the program," says D'Ambrosio. "She made a great sacrifice in leaving a dominant Tolland High School girls' soccer program [where she served as head coach] to literally starting a college soccer program from scratch and quickly turning the program into a competitive and successful NCAA tournament program," added D'Ambrosio. "Her recruitment of student-athletes from local towns and in-state schools, and her positive leadership and mentorship of those early [recruiting] classes created a strong culture and lasting impact for the program and University."
 
D'Ambrosio's teams were an astonishing 115-29-8 in Little East Conference regular-season matches for a 78.3 winning percentage, with only two of his teams finishing under .500 (both going 3-4-0) in the LEC regular season. In 22 years, 14 of his teams went undefeated or lost only one match in LEC regular-season play, including six straight seasons when the team compiled a 34-5-3 LEC regular-season record. In a 12-year span beginning in his second season in 2001 through 2012, D'Ambrosio's team compiled a remarkable LEC regular-season record of 68-10-6 (84.5 winning percentage), won or shared five LEC regular-season titles and claimed four LEC playoff championships. Three of those teams went undefeated in the LEC and only one lost more than one match.
 
In all but three of his 22 seasons, D'Ambrosio was assisted by childhood friend Ken Goodale, who joined his fellow Coventry native in D'Ambrosio's second season in 2001 and remained by his side through the 2019 campaign--  prior to the Covid season in 2020-21.
 
To date, four of D'Ambrosio's players preceded him into the Alumni Hall of Fame: Julia Neilson (inducted in 2016), Stacey Schofield (2017), Jennifer Ferrari (2019) and Pamela Neff (2022).
 
Under D'Ambrosio, eight players were named Little East Player-of-the-Year, four Rookie-of-the-Year, 107 to the all-conference team, four as LEC playoff MVP and 122 earned LEC All-Academic distinction. Two of his players were awarded USC All-America recognition, one was named ECAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year, 21 were selected to the USC All-New England Region team and one earned first-team USC Scholar All-America. Additionally, two of his teams earned a United Soccer Coaches (USC) Ethics and Sportsmanship Award.
 
D'Ambrosio is a long-time Andover resident who currently resides in Pawcatuck with his wife, Gina. The D'Ambrosio's have two grown sons, Cooper and Carson. Cooper is a former two-time LEC Defensive Player-of-the-Year under current head men's coach Greg DeVito at Eastern and Carson currently serves as goalkeeper coach with the University of Connecticut women's soccer program.