Bianca Pizano signed a Letter of Intent to play field hockey at Michigan State. Seated, from left: Talia Pizano, sister; Rocco Pizano, brother; Bianca Pizano; Rhonda Pizano, mother; Marian Pizano, grandmother. Standing, same order: Joe Pizano, father and athletic director; Lexi Crossley, assistant coach; Eric Speece, principal; Bree Bednarski, head coach; Dr. Jon Pollard, superintendent.
Tom Robinson | For Sunday Dispatch
Alexys Moore signed a Letter of Intent to play field hockey at UMass. Seated, from left: Dave Pascucci, stepfather; Nicole Jones, mother; Alexys Moore; and Gary Moore, father. Standing, same order: Lexi Crossley, assistant coach; Joe Pizano, athletic director; Eric Speece, principal; Dr. Jon Pollard, superintendent; and Bree Bednarski, head coach.
Tom Robinson | For Sunday Dispatch
EXETER — Alexys Moore and Bianca Pizano took time out from their high school state title pursuits to secure their futures as college field hockey players.
One day after Moore scored the only goal in Wyoming Area’s 1-0 victory over Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt to reach the PIAA state Class A quarterfinals for the fourth time in five years, she joined Pizano and athletes from two other Wyoming Area girls sports for college signings ceremonies.
Moore, Pizano, runner Madelyn Keating and lacrosse player Sofia Sabatini all signed their National Collegiate Athletic Association Letters of Intent to accept Division I athletic scholarships Wednesday morning at the school. They posed for a series of pictures commemorating the day.
For both Moore and Pizano, the signing formalized a decision made more than 11 months ago when they gave their verbal commitments soon after the Wyoming Area season ended in the state semifinals.
Moore is headed to the University of Massachusetts while Pizano is going to Michigan State.
For Moore, the decision goes back even further.
Moore went to an individual clinic at UMass as a freshman, was impressed with what she saw and never wound up visiting or seriously discussing options with any other school. A year later, when Moore learned that the interest was mutual from the UMass coaching staff, a process that led to Wednesday was underway.
“As soon as I went there, it felt like a home,” said Moore, who came to Wyoming Area from the Northwest Area School District as an eighth-grader. “The whole coaching staff is the same since when I first went up there and it just seems to be a great group of people; the kind I’d like to surround myself with.”
UMass went 6-1 in the Atlantic 10 and 14-6 overall. Its only regular-season conference loss was to St. Joseph’s, which it also lost to in the conference championship game.
Pizano’s connection with Michigan State developed much more quickly, over the course of her junior season with the Lady Warriors. By the time that season ended, she was ready to commit to the Big Ten school and has been happy that the coaching staff there continued to follow her senior season the way it did while recruiting her a year earlier.
“I talk to them all the time,” she said. “They just let me play, but afterward, they’ll always text me. They watch most of our live-streamed games and they came to districts.”
Pizano also made visits to the University at Albany, Virginia Commonwealth, Holy Cross, Lehigh and Temple and canceled a planned visit to Villanova at the time of her decision to accept Michigan State’s offer.
“Bianca is a driven, competitive and aggressive player who is going to come in and compete in everything we do on and off the field,” coach Helen Knull said in a story on the school’s athletic website, announcing the latest recruiting class. “She is committed and dedicated to being the best she can be and has a lot of room for growth at Michigan State.
Michigan State went 1-7 in the Big Ten but 9-9 overall this season.
