Melissa Phillips recently completed her fourth season as an assistant under head coach Nicole Van Dyke in 2018.
In her fourth season, Penn enjoyed one of its best seasons in program history. She helped the Quakers to a 13-2-1 record and a share of the Ivy League crown - their first since 2010 - after going 5-1-1 in league play. In 16 games, Penn allowed just five goals - the fewest in program history - and secured 12 shutouts on the year, just one off the record. The ability to defend was crucial and much of the reason behind its success. At the conclusion of the regular season, Penn led the nation in both goals-against average and save percentage, while sitting tied for the best shutout percentage. The Red and Blue went over 1000 minutes without conceding a goal in the run of play and put together seven consecutive shutouts. The Quakers trailed just twice all season, and finished 7-1 away from Rhodes Field. The 13 wins are the second-highest total in program history and, consequently, the two losses were the second fewest in a season. Penn entered the season finale at 13-1-1 and 5-0-1, the best records to that point all-time. At one point, Penn went 12 consecutive games unbeaten, matching the longest streak in program history and won seven of those in a row. The Quakers scored 30 goals, tied for the ninth most in a season and scored six against Delaware State, tied for the sixth most in a game. When scoring first, Penn was 13-0 and only allowed an equalizer twice on the year. Most notably, the Quakers entered halftime at 0-0 nine times, but they went 8-0-1 in those games and went 6-2 in one-goal games. Penn opened its season 6-1 in non-conference action with the only blemish coming to then-No. 13 North Carolina State in a 1-0 battle. After the NC State game, Penn went on its 12-game unbeaten streak, and opened conference play with a scoreless draw with Harvard then ripped off seven wins, including a 2-0 win over Brown at Rhodes Field that clinched the Ivy title. Six Quakers were rewarded with All-Ivy nods, most notably Cami Nwokedi earning Defender of the Year. Joining her on the first team was Emily Sands and Kitty Qu; Allie Trzaska became the seventh player in program history to garner All-Ivy honors all four years when she was named to the second team; Sasha Stephens and Megan Lloyd were honorable mention picks. Of those six, three of them will return in 2019 and eight of the 11 starters will also be back.
Phillips oversaw the development of a youth-driven Penn squad finish with a 5-8-3 record with a 3-3-1 mark in Ivy League play. Despite a challenging non-conference slate to open the campaign, the defense stepped up to play a vital role in the team's success, allowing 12 goals across 16 matches and conceding only four in seven Ivy contests. At season's end, the Quakers 19th nationally in team save percentage (.864) and 33rd in team goals-against average (.708) with a back line comprised of three newcomers to the program. The 2017 Quakers became the first team since 2007 to take down Harvard, Dartmouth and Yale in the same season following a 3-1 win over the Bulldogs on Oct. 21. Additionally, Penn's Sept. 23 win at Harvard was the Quakers' first in the last five seasons and first in Cambridge since the 2007 season. At season's end, four women earned All-Ivy laurels for the second consecutive year, led by sophomore keeper Kitty Qu on the first-team. Junior Allie Trzaska was named to the second-team, while senior Erica Higa and freshman Chase Geffert landed honorable mention recognition.
Despite a youth movement, Penn went 9-3-4 in 2016, Phillips' second season. On defense, the Red and Blue allowed just 10 goals across 16 matches, posting eight shutouts, and went a staggering 1,350 minutes of match action (covering more than two months) without allowing a goal in the run of play. When the season ended, the Quakers were 13th nationally in goals-against average. At the other end, a young attack had 12 different goal scorers and tallied 31 goals, a program high for a single season since 2011 and 12 more than the team scored in both 2014 and 2015. Following the campaign, four women received All-Ivy recognition -- including two freshmen and a sophomore -- and senior Paige Lombard (first-team All-Ivy) was named one of 30 candidates nationally for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award.
The Quakers went 6-4-6 under the direction of Phillips in her first season, allowing just 11 goals which is third on the program's all-time list for fewest goals allowed in a season. The season ended with three women earning All-Ivy recognition -- including two first-teamers -- and Lombard gaining NSCAA All-Region and All-ECAC honors.
The University of Pennsylvania’s new head women’s soccer coach, Nicole Van Dyke, has announced the hiring of Melissa Phillips as an assistant coach.
The move to Penn represents a reunion for Van Dyke and Phillips. Van Dyke initially recruited Phillips to play for her at Cal State Stanislaus, and then hired Phillips as an assistant coach when she was head coach at Cal State Bakersfield. When Van Dyke moved on to Stanford after the 2010 season, Phillips replaced her as the Roadrunners’ head coach.
Phillips was Cal State Bakersfield’s head coach from 2011-13, and was the youngest head coach at the NCAA Division I level during that time. In 2012, her second season as head coach, Phillips guided the Roadrunners to six wins, still the most in the program’s Division I history. In 2013, Phillips coached the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Freshman of the Year in Hedda Regefalk and had a first-team All-WAC selection in Erica Shelton.
After stepping down following the 2013 season, Phillips moved to San Francisco where she coached three teams through the Palo Alto SC and Stanford SC programs. Since January, she has been on staff as an assistant coach at the University of San Francisco.
While she was at Bakersfield, Phillips’ teams earned the athletic department’s highest GPA (in 2011) and garnered NSCAA All-Academic team honors in each of her five seasons. In 2013, five student-athletes were also named Academic All-Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
Phillips holds a USSF National B coaching license. This past year, she was selected from among a pool of more than 600 applicants to be part of the NSCAA’s “30-Under-30” program. The program is a year-long education and mentorship opportunity for a select few up-and-comers who have made soccer coaching their career of choice, and was created to support young coaches and foster their growth at a crucial point in their vocation. She was a 2015 WCA #37 graduate of the NCAA Women's Coaching Academy.
Phillips played her collegiate soccer at Cal State Stanislaus, where she was a two-time captain and team MVP. A three-time All-California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) selection, Phillips also garnered Daktronics/CoSIDA First Team All-West Region and second-team NSCAA All-West Region honors. Off the field, she was a Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) member and served as its Vice President.
Phillips graduated from Cal State Stanislaus in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and kinesiology, and completed her Master’s of Education in curriculum and instruction at Cal State Bakersfield in 2011.
