Anne Phillips, who led Franklin & Marshall to an NCAA Championship and was the IWLCA Division III National Coach of the Year in 2007, was named Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse on June 23, 2008. Phillips is the eighth head coach in the 32-year history of Yale women's lacrosse.

In 2013 the Bulldogs finished with their best record in five years, improving their win total over the previous season for the second straight year. They scored 32 more goals than they scored in 2012, a remarkable 23 percent increase. They also set the school record for draw controls (205). Individually, freshman Nicole Daniggelis earned All-Northeast Region honors from the IWLCA and was named to Synapse Sports' national All-Rookie Team.

During Phillips' first five years in New Haven, the Bulldogs have had 11 All-Ivy League selections: 

• 2009: Jenn Warden (Second Team); Kaitlyn Flatley, Whitney Quackenbush (Honorable Mention)
• 2010: Michele Fiorentino, Devon Rhodes (Second Team); Whitney Quackenbush (Honorable Mention)
• 2011: Fielding Kidd (Second Team); Kaitlyn Flatley (Honorable Mention)
• 2012: Caroline Crow (Second Team)
• 2013: Nicole Daniggelis (First Team); Devon Rhodes (Second Team)

Yale has also had three Academic All-Ivy League selections during Phillips' tenure:

• 2009: Jenn Warden
• 2010: Claire Eliasberg
• 2011: Myra Trivellas

Yale also earned IWLCA Academic Squad honors in 2010 and 2011.

The Bulldogs have been active in community service during Phillips' tenure, "adopting" a local girl named Alanna who was undergoing chemotherapy at Smilow Cancer Hospital in 2010. They also played in a special fundraiser game for Hurricane Sandy relief at Oceanside, N.Y., in April of 2013.

Phillips 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 her final season. Phillips also coached 18 individual IWLCA All-Americans and six of F&M's top 10 all-time leading scorers in her tenure.

A 1980 Franklin & Marshall graduate, Phillips revitalized the F&M program in her six seasons in Lancaster. She took over a team that had gone 8-7 in 2002 and led the Diplomats to a 14-5 record and ECAC Championship in 2003. The team won another ECAC Championship in 2005, then made the NCAA Division III Elite Eight in 2006.

The Diplomats were ranked in the top 10 nationally in each of Phillips' years, but in 2007 they reached new heights. The team achieved No. 1 in the rankings for the first time, winning its first Centennial Conference Championship in 14 years. The Diplomats finished off an undefeated season -- 21-0 -- with a win over Salisbury in the NCAA Division III Championship. They ranked second in the country in scoring defense (5.33 goals allowed per game) and seventh in the country in scoring offense (15.19 goals per game). The team also was an IWLCA National Academic Merit Squad selection.

F&M went 19-2 in 2008, winning another Centennial Conference Championship and reaching the NCAA Division III Championship game again before falling to Hamilton. The Diplomats were ranked fifth in the country in scoring defense (6.71 goals allowed per game).

A native of West Chester, Pa., Phillips helped found the Franklin & Marshall women's lacrosse program. Then known as Anne Ricciuti, she played on the school's first team in 1977. She scored 99 goals and had 46 assists in two seasons as an attacker before her career was cut short by knee injuries. She was also on the field hockey team, which went 51-20-7 in her four years, and is seventh on the school's career goals list in that sport with 38.

After receiving her degree in economics from F&M, Phillips spent nine years with Deluxe Check Printers in St. Paul, Minn., rising to the level of Regional Computer Operations Manager. She began her coaching career with Owen J. Roberts High School in Pottstown, Pa., in 1998. She gradually turned that program around from a 1-17 record her first season to a 19-1-1 mark and a state championship in her final season, 2001. She was named the Philadelphia Inquirer Coach of the Year.

Phillips is chairman of the US Lacrosse National Team Selection Committee, and helped select the U.S. rosters that won the World Cup in 2009 and 2013. She also helped select the U.S. roster that won the Under-19 World Championship in 2011. She was also a US Lacrosse National Team selector in 2007. She has been a member of the National All-American Selection Committee since 2003 and has been a member of the United States Lacrosse Coaches Council since 2006. Phillips was also the director of Girls' Lacrosse for the Keystone State Games from 1998 to 2002. 

Anne Phillips Head Coaching Record

2003 14-5 ECAC Champions
2004 10-9
2005 14-3 ECAC Champions
2006 15-5 NCAA Elite Eight Regional Finalist
2007 21-0 NCAA National Champions, Centennial Conference Champions
2008 19-2 NCAA National Finalists, Centennial Conference Champions
2009 5-11
2010 6-9
2011 3-12
2012 5-10
2013 8-7

Total 120-73 (.622)

Anne Phillips Head Coaching Highlights

• Three straight NCAA Tournament appearances 2006-2008
• NCAA Championship (2007)
• 18 Individual IWLCA All-Americans in first six seasons
• 2007 IWLCA Division III National Coach of the Year
• Chairman of US Lacrosse National Team Selection Committee

Updated July 24, 2013

Tanya Kotowicz, a former two-time UConn team captain who spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach at Hofstra, joined the Yale women’s lacrosse staff as assistant coach in the fall of 2012.

In Kotowicz' first season with the Bulldogs, 2013, Yale registered its most wins in five years and increased its scoring by 32 goals over the previous season. The Bulldogs' defense cut its shots allowed by 32 compared to the previous season, and had its lowest goals-allowed total since 2010. The team had one IWLCA all-region selection and a pair of All-Ivy League selections.

Kotowicz, a native of Hicksville, N.Y., who attended Hicksville High, had seven years of NCAA Division I coaching and international experience prior to coming to New Haven. Including camps and clinics, her efforts to spread the game have taken her to 13 different states along with Australia, England and Japan.  She has also worked to spread the game in developing areas throughout the United States, including Georgia, Hawaii and Washington.

Kotowicz spent four years as an assistant coach at Hofstra, where she helped the Pride earn a top 20 ranking. Hofstra made two CAA Tournament appearances during her time there, and she helped develop U.S. National Team members and All-Americans. The Pride also had the top GPA in the country twice in her tenure, and was an IWLCA Academic Squad all four years.

Kotowicz also spearheaded several community service initiatives at Hofstra, and the Hofstra program was an IWLCA Community Service Award nominee in 2010. She founded and directed the Nick Colleluori Women’s Lacrosse Classic, raising more than $140,000 for blood cancer research through the HEADstrong Foundation since starting the event in 2009. She has also done community service for the American Cancer Society, Surfer’s Healing (autism), Bristol Retirement Home, Read Across America, Friends of Jaclyn (pediatric brain tumors) and Ronald McDonald House.

Prior to joining the Hofstra staff, Kotowicz spent the 2008 season as head coach at Marist. She led the Red Foxes to their first MAAC championship in school history, earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament play-in game. She coached 14 MAAC All-Academic selections, 10 MAAC All-Tournament team selections and nine All-MAAC selections.

Kotowicz had also been an assistant at Marist in 2006; in between stops in Poughkeepsie, she was an assistant coach at St. Mary’s (Calif.) in 2007.  During her tenure with the Gaels, St. Mary’s led the nation in ground balls and had eight players named to the Academic All-MPSF team.

A midfielder for UConn from 2000-05, Kotowicz redshirted the 2002 campaign due to injury. In 2005, she helped lead UConn to the ECAC championship, a program-best 12 wins and a final ranking of No. 15 in the nation. In 2004 she was the recipient of the Sam Witryol Award, presented to a UConn player who consistently makes a positive contribution to the team and understands the spirit of the game. Kotowicz played for former Yale assistant coach Bonnie Rosen, who was head coach of the Huskies at the time.

Kotowicz was a Big East Scholar-Athlete from 2002 to 2005 and a Big East Academic All-Star from 2000 to 2005. She received her B.A. in human development and family studies from UConn in 2004, minoring in psychology.  While coaching at Hofstra she received an M.S. in physical education in 2011.

Kotowicz’ international playing experience includes time as a member of the Wilderness Lacrosse Team in Adelaide, Australia, in 2003. She also served as a coach with the MAAC All-Star Team in Tokyo, Japan, during the summer of 2006. In January 2010 she was on the coaching staff of the USA Athletes International Lacrosse team that won the gold medal at the Southern Cross Lacrosse Challenge in Australia. She also served as a guest coach for the English National Team in January 2011.

Kotowwicz, who is German on her father's side, was an alternate for Germany at the 2013 World Cup in Canada.

Updated July 24, 2013

Ashley Casiano, a two-time all-conference goaltender for Marist who helped the Red Foxes to the NCAA Tournament in 2010, has joined the Yale women's lacrosse staff as an assistant coach for the 2014 season. She joins returning assistant coach Tanya Kotowicz to form the staff under Anne Phillips, Yale's Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse.

Casiano joins the Bulldogs after earning her B.A. in communications with a concentration in sports communication from Marist, where she earned MAAC All-Academic Team recognition as a senior and made the Dean's List twice. Last season she was ninth in the country in saves (149) and 13^th in save percentage (.461). That helped her earn second team All-MAAC honors for the second season in a row. She started every game except one for the last three seasons of her career, leading her team in ground balls each year.

As a freshman Casiano helped the Red Foxes earn an NCAA Tournament berth by beating Fairfield 9-7 in the MAAC Tournament championship. She was named to the all-tournament team for her efforts, and over the course of her career the Red Foxes make a total of three MAAC Tournament appearances. She was a two-time all-tournament selection.

A native of South Windsor, Conn., Casiano lettered in lacrosse and basketball all four years at South Windsor High. She has worked as a coach at various camps, including Yale's camp this past June, and has also volunteered with Special Olympics.

Jill Boffa joined the Yale staff as an assistant for the 2013 season, bringing award-winning head coaching experience to her role. She has earned three coach of the year honors.

From 1998 to 2003 Boffa was the head women’s soccer and lacrosse coach at Colby-Sawyer, earning CCC coach of the year for lacrosse in 2003. Boffa then spent two seasons as the head lacrosse coach at Manhattan, helping the Jaspers win the MAAC championship and advance to the NCAA play-in game in 2004. She earned MAAC coach of the year that season. Boffa was also the head coach at Kenyon College in 2006 and 2007, earning NCAC Coach of the Year honors in her final season there. She has been an official with the Connecticut Women’s Lacrosse Official Association since 2008.

Prior to coaching at Kenyon, Boffa was an assistant soccer coach at Oberlin from 2004 to 2005. She also served as acting head lacrosse coach for American International College in 1998. She was a volunteer assistant at Davidson in 1996, and also has served as an assistant track coach at two high schools (Hastings High in Ohio and Longmeadow High in Massachusetts).

Boffa was an honorable mention all-region selection in 1993, when she played at Wittenberg. She earned her B.A. in history that year, then earned a Master of Education in physical education from Springfield College in 1998.