July 2, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Anne Phillips, who was named Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse last month, has added to her list of coaching honors. Phillips was named Division III Regional Coach of the Year for the Metro region by the IWLCA at the end of June. The honor recognizes Phillips' work in her final season at Franklin & Marshall.

F&M went 19-2 in 2008, winning another Centennial Conference Championship and reaching the NCAA Division III Championship game for the second year in a row. The Diplomats were ranked fifth in the country in scoring defense (6.71 goals allowed per game).

Phillips led Franklin & Marshall to an NCAA Championship and was the IWLCA Division III National Coach of the Year in 2007. She posted a 93-24 record (.795) in her six seasons at F&M, making her the school's all-time leader in both wins and winning percentage. That winning percentage put her third among active Division III head coaches at the end of last season. Phillips also coached 18 individual IWLCA All-Americans and six of F&M's top 10 all-time leading scorers in her tenure.

Phillips is the eighth head coach in the 32-year history of Yale women's lacrosse. She takes over a Yale program that went 11-5 in 2007 and ended the season ranked No. 17 in the IWLCA poll. Yale, which has made three NCAA Tournament appearances, is tied with Georgetown for the second-longest current streak of winning seasons (15), trailing only Maryland (27).

The IWLCA recognized 13 coaches for their work during the 2008 season with National and Regional Coach of the Year awards. Phillips was one of seven regional winners at the Division III level.

report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity