Alexis Fuscaldo ’22
Captain of the Episcopal Varsity Girls’ Soccer, Basketball, and Lacrosse Teams Bella Piselli ‘22 is a dedicated athlete. She shows her talent and skill in all these endeavors, particularly showing true commitment and excellence in the sport of lacrosse.
Piselli has been playing lacrosse since she was eight years old and all this hardwork and effort has been rewarded with the title of Co-Captain of the Girls Varsity Lacrosse Team.
Piselli is joined by Alexa Capozzoli ‘22 as her Co-Captain this season. The Co-Captains have been playing together for much longer than their time at Episcopal. Capozzoli states, “Bella and I have been playing together since we were about six or seven years old for Philly Blast and our local team as well.” She also mentions that they have a very similar ideology when it comes to being leaders by saying, “We both like taking initiative and we both take leadership very personally so I think together we’re both going to work on including everyone on the team and looking to maybe win the Inter-Ac this year.” A senior season is always very exciting and Piselli feels the same way. She is very excited for this season stating, “I think we have a lot of freshman talent which is awesome.”
The Girls Varsity Lacrosse Coach, Josie Tomaino, has been coaching Piselli for several years prior to her playing for Episcopal. In fact, Tomaino says that she has been coaching Piselli not only for all four years at Episcopal, but also seven years on a club team named Philly Blast. She states that “Bella brings tremendous experience as a captain since she was captain for both soccer and basketball already this year. She leads by example, she is a vocal leader, and she is one of the hardest workers both on and off the field.” Tomaino continues to praise Piselli, describing her in a few words as “supportive, reliable, strong, dependable and gritty.”
Over the years she has played several different positions on the field, and is currently starting in the midfield position for Episcopal. Piselli explains, “Attack is probably my favorite position, but midfield is my go to because you get to play everywhere.” Having been on varsity for all four years of high school, she remembers many memories with the team but states that winning the Inter-Ac her freshman year was her favorite. She recalls, “Winning the Inter-Ac freshman year against Agnes Irwin on Field D and then everyone storming the field was just really fun.”
Last spring, before the season came to a close, the rising seniors gave a speech as to why they wanted to be captains next year. Piselli stated at the time that “for me being captain is making sure that I’m keeping the same environment that has been built for previous years before us and to leave the legacy that we want to be remembered by.” She continues, “My big thing that I’ve already taken away from soccer and basketball is just to make sure that everyone feels welcomed and that everyone has the chance to play no matter the grade or what their experience level is.”
At EA, Piselli has made memories that wherever she plays that she will never forget. However, she says that what she will miss most about Episcopal Girls Lacrosse is spending time with the younger players. She explains, “I’ll miss getting to play with the younger kids. Hanging out with the freshmen, sophomores, and helping get them acclimated, so I’m going to miss the familiar faces, not being one of the younger kids, and being one that they can all look up to as a role model.” Bella’s favorite part about lacrosse is how fast paced it is. “I love the high intensity and with the new rule of free movement you’re always going 100%”, she comments.
Looking to the future, Piselli will be continuing both her academic and athletic careers at Villanova University. She comments on how her process was unusual saying, “It was very different for me actually because I was getting recruited for soccer first which I was set on.” Piselli comments how her outlook on college sports changed saying, “The September [2020] one hit and I got a couple calls for lacrosse and then Villanova called. And I knew from when I was little that I wanted to go to Villanova, so as soon as I got the call from them I was like: ‘that’s where I’m going to be.’”
Photo Courtesy of Bella Piselli ’22