Pittaro, Steinert motivated to fill trophy case
HAMILTON » Giana Pittaro walked off the field, shoulder slumped, following the Steinert girls soccer team’s loss that ended the 2016 season.
By no means was a terrible season for Pittaro or her Spartan teammates.
They won 19 games. Went the Central Jersey Group 3 final. Pittaro scored 19 goals.
Still, she couldn’t help but feel empty in the pit of her stomach.
“We were so close and we didn’t come out with anything,” Pittaro said. “There’s definitely some unfinished business. For the record we had ... and nothing to show for it.”
So the goal this campaign is to add to a trophy case that already has a pair of Mercer County Tournament titles in it, although it has been 11 years since Steinert last won the county’s showpiece event.
“A lot of us have been playing together for two, three years and our chemistry is something not a lot of teams have,” the senior captain said. “Our chemistry is going to carry us. My freshman and sophomore years were building years and it really came together last year. This year we’re hoping to do the same.”
Pittaro, if you haven’t figured out by now, has the responsibility of putting the ball in the back of the net. She did it 19 times, while adding six assists a year ago.
And that was all playing out of position.
Pittaro, who has committed to Yale, plays as a centerback for her club team Match Fit Academy. She was recruited by Yale to be a centerback.
“That’s her personality,” Steinert coach Mike Hastings said. “She’s a team player. She’s been like that since she was a freshman. It’s really nice to have somebody that not only has the athletic ability and skill, but the work ethic where on of your best players in your hardest worker.
“And she’s pretty damn smart, too. She’s like having another coach on the team.”
Pittaro feels like playing at forward on the high school level has aided her development as a player. She called it a nice switch up, and plus, if you have experience making runs in the attacking third, shouldn’t that help you defend against forwards, too?
“I’m on the ball every single day at high school whereas club I’m on my own and I only practice two or three times a week,” said Pittaro, whose Match Fit club is based in Morris and Essex Counties at her age group. “I think you improve through high school soccer, too.”
The addition development academy programs by U.S. Soccer, something that has been around for years on the boys side, has forced many of the top female players to choose between competing for their high schools or exclusively for the DA club (Sky Blue-PDA, which scooped up a pair of players off Princeton Day’s roster).
Match Fit is affiliated with Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) and allows its players to commit to their high school programs, something Pittaro has taken advantage of.
“My club team did help me get into college for soccer, but I love high school soccer,” Pittaro said. “Soccer is a fall sport, so freshman year coming in you make friends. It kind of brings you closer to a group of girls. It’s kind of hard for a club team because I don’t live close to any people. I don’t see them on a daily basis. (High school) allows you to create more friendships and relationships on a daily basis.”
Which brings it all back to a senior year at Steinert with some unfinished business.
“The next step is to win,” Pittaro said. “The MCT. States.”
Did you know?
» Giana Pittaro’s mother, Lisa, was a 1990 World Cup winner with the U.S. Women’s team and her father, Chris, played for the Tigers and Twins between 1985-87. » Chris was also teammates with Thunder manager Bobby Mitchell when both played with the TripleA Nashville Sounds (Detroit)