NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Giana Pittaro, a defender who has 27 games of collegiate experience, has been elected captain of the 2022 Yale Women's Soccer Team.

"I am proud of Giana and her consistent and respected voice. She holds herself to the highest standards, which makes it easy for her teammates to gravitate towards her leadership," said Sarah Martinez, Yale's Loring Family Head Coach. "Giana has proven to be resilient, hard-working and incredibly self-motivated which are the perfect traits for a captain in this program. We have made great strides over the last six months as a group and much of that is credited to Giana and her entire class in their ability to motivate and lead those around them both on and off the field. It's an exciting time for our program, and I have no doubt Giana will prove to be an incredible captain."

Pittaro, who was the recipient of the team's Captain Cup Award as a first year in 2018, played in more games than any rookie that season. She was limited by an injury to nine contests as a sophomore and then competed in eight last fall after returning from a leave of absence during the pandemic.

"I'm extremely honored that my teammates have entrusted me to lead the program into our upcoming season," said Pittaro, the Pauli Murray College resident who leads a young Yale squad that had 13 first years on the roster last fall. "I'm especially grateful to be working alongside a group of incredibly strong and talented women, to have the support and leadership of the upperclassmen on the team, and to have had such a great example set for me by the captains of the past three seasons: Brittany Simpson, Alyssa Fagel, and Kristen Enriquez." 

The Hamilton, N.J., native and former Match Fit Academy ECNL standout was the Colonial Valley Conference Player of the Year as a senior at Steinert High School while playing up front. Pittaro was named to the United Soccer Coaches High School All-East Region team after scoring 46 goals and adding 30 assists before coming to New Haven.

Pittaro, whose outreach activities include volunteering with Joey's Little Angels, a non-profit, local organization whose mission is to provide financial and emotional support for families with a child undergoing medical treatments, comes from a very athletic family.

Her mother, Lisa Gmitter-Pittaro, played for the U.S. National Soccer Team and at George Mason, where she won an NCAA championship, while her father, Chris Pittaro, played Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins.

"The collective goal is to leave the program in a better place. I hope to achieve this with the guidance of the coaching staff and our upperclassmen to foster a competitive learning environment where we hold each other accountable and push each other to be the best versions of ourselves, so that our continued development provides us with success— all while having fun, playing the game that we love," said the new team leader.