‘This is Just the Beginning:’ Georgetown Emerges in Year 2 Under Phipps

When Caitlyn Phipps took the head coaching job at Georgetown in September 2024, the Hoyas had already started fall practices, and soon-to-be-rival coaches had been reaching out to recruits for two weeks.

Oh, and she was nine months postpartum with her second child and had spent years of her life as a player and assistant coach at Maryland.

But she left her alma mater, headed to D.C. and met with a recruit on her first day on job.

“Last year definitely was a whirlwind, but everything was exciting about it,” Phipps said with a smile. “I was at Maryland for so long. That’s all I knew about.”

Phipps credited her assistants and the Georgetown administration for helping her learn the ins and outs of a new department, as well as travel and planning practices. Her husband, Bryan, a former Maryland standout and Georgetown assistant, wrangles the couple’s young daughters, Mackenzie and Chloe, along with both sets of grandparents.

It was a whirlwind for the players, too. Anne McGovern, then a sophomore, had committed to play for Ricky Fried. Fried spent more than two decades at Georgetown as a head coach (2005-2024) and an assistant (2003-04), contributing to the program’s 2004 final four run and 11 NCAA tournament appearances from 2003-19. He stepped aside in August.

“It was definitely a surprise,” McGovern said. “I remember the Zoom. Our incoming freshmen were already on campus, and I was getting ready to leave in two days.”

But as soon as McGovern reunited with her teammates, she knew it would be OK. The quick announcement of Phipps’ hiring a month later confirmed that.

“She brought a new energy,” McGovern said. “As soon as we realized she likes to coach in a positive way, we all settled in, and we were able to take a deep breath. That’s important to our team — positivity builds confidence for us. We were able to develop a lot that first fall.”

Georgetown went 9-8 in 2025, its first over-.500 season since 2019 — the last time the Hoyas made the NCAA tournament. Four losses were by four goals or fewer, including to Maryland (9-7) and perennial Big East power Denver (16-13 in the regular season).

Phipps saw positive developments and room for improvement.

“That’s not the goal — just play teams close,” Phipps said. “We want to be winning those games. We ended the season hungry for more and a little extra belief. We didn’t win those games, but we showed that we could compete. We had to dig deep and figure out what it was going to take to take us to the next level.”

Cliché as it sounds, one of the big blocks was the one thing Phipps can’t coach.

“We’ve never been in those games, close with teams,” McGovern said. “We never learned how to win those games. Coming into this year, we learned from that, and we were able to hit the ground running.”

Phipps noticed a mental and physical shift from the team when they returned for the fall, too.

“Our team this year came back this fall, ready to embrace any challenges thrown their way,” Phipps said. “We pushed them throughout the fall. We’re challenging them to compete every single day, really hard against each other, so that we’re better prepared for those moments when it comes to game day.”

It showed. The Hoyas cruised past American and Towson (the Tigers beat Georgetown in overtime last year). Next came Phipps’ old squad, Maryland, on Feb. 18. Georgetown led 6-1 with 11:36 left in the third quarter.

“We moved the ball well in that first half against Maryland, and we were finding some great opportunities,” Phipps said.

But then, the experience block re-entered. Maryland ended the game on a 9-1 run, winning 10-7.

“That’s a position this team hasn’t been in — to hold on to a lead in the fourth quarter [against a team like Maryland],” Phipps said. “So, I am proud of the way we competed, and I think we learned a lot from that game. We wish we could have come out on top, but I do think that was a learning moment for this team to have a higher sense of belief in themselves and to be able to put their foot down when we have the lead.”

The Hoyas didn’t have much time to live in the loss with another Big Ten opponent, Johns Hopkins, on the slate six days later.

The Hoyas held a 5-3 lead at halftime and went ahead 9-5 when McGovern found Gracie Driggs with 14:05 left in the fourth quarter to cap a 3-0 run. Georgetown slammed the door, scoring three more times and winning 12-6 behind a combined eight goals from Driggs and McGovern. McGovern added two assists for a game-high seven points.

“We knew that, in the fourth quarter, we couldn’t just sit back and give up,” McGovern said. “In the fourth quarter, we exploded with four goals against Hopkins and held them to one goal. That was a big thing coming off of Maryland. We learned from our second half in Maryland and were able to apply that against Hopkins.”

McGovern (15G, 5A) is the offense’s quarterback — a vocal leader with a passion for the game Phipps described as “contagious.” Driggs (12G, 4A, 21DC) is the team’s fire offensively and in the circle.

“When she scores a goal, or even when her teammates score a goal, her celebrations are loud,” Phipps said. “They are fun, and it gets everyone fired up. Between Gracie and Annie, we have a lot of upper-class leadership on the offensive end, and they’re our voice and our energy.”

Defensively, the Hoyas have another vocal leader and talent in fifth-year netminder Leah Warehime (7.09 GAA, .541 SV%), who posted a season-high 11 saves in Georgetown’s most recent win over Saint Joseph’s.

“She’s anchoring our defensive unit that’s playing so strongly together, and our defense is settling in and putting her in a position to make great saves,” Phipps said. “She’s playing with a whole new level of confidence that I even saw from her last year. She’s keeping everybody organized, and she’s making big-time saves and having the defenders back.”

The Hoyas face another test Wednesday in No. 20 Loyola. The new-look Greyhounds have won two of their last three games, scoring wins over Princeton and Penn. There will also be plenty of familiar faces. Loyola assistant Dana Dobbie was Phipps’ roommate at Maryland, and Georgetown assistant Julie Morse once donned a Greyhounds jersey.

But it’s game on, come Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern.

“Their draw taker [Mae Murphy] has had a phenomenal year, so we’re going to have to be prepared in that area and ready to compete,” Phipps said. “Defensively, we have to continue what we’re doing, and offensively, we have to finish plays. We’re starting to trust each other and know each other’s strengths. We’re figuring out ways to play off each other, but then being able to finish in big-time moments and put the ball in the back of the net.”

Phipps left her alma mater for Georgetown because she believed in the program, and now her future and current players do, too.

“There’s been a buzz about our program and the strides that we’ve been making over the past year and a half or so,” Phipps said. ‘Georgetown is an incredible university, and I think it’s a place that the lacrosse world is like, ‘Georgetown should be great at lacrosse.’ The players that we have now are setting this standard and showing recruits what they can be a part of if they do decide to come here.”

Phipps thinks the team has more to show.

“This is just the beginning,” Phipps said. “We’ve got to remember that a season is long. If we can learn from wins, losses and each practice, and continue to push each other to get better, then we will accomplish our goals toward the end of the season. But we have to stay focused on the process.”