Fourth estate
Sports
Sept. 30, 2013
27
Soccer alumnae remembers hall of fame career
(PHOTOS COURTESY OF LISA GMITTER-PITTARO)
(Above) Lisa Gmitter-Pittaro poses with her former teammates. (Right) Gmitter-Pittaro as a member of Women’s United Soccer Association’s Washington Freedom.
DARIAN BANKS STAFF WRITER After three years of competing in the NCAA National Tournament, Mason women’s soccer faced a tough challenge when the 1985 tournament began. In the first round of the tournament, the team played the College of William and Mary at home and almost lost the battle 2-0. Then, with only two minutes left in the game, Lisa Gmitter-Pittaro took control. “We had the best record in Division I and we were ranked number one in the country and I am just like, this cannot happen,” said Gmitter-Pittaro, former striker for the Mason women’s soccer team. “And me personally, I just said, ‘I am kicking in gear and this is not going to happen.’” With Mason trailing 2-1, Gmitter-Pittaro made a cross to the right that grazed the post on the way in to tie up the game. Mason went on to win on penalty kicks and advance in the tournament. While the men’s basketball 2006 Final Four run represents the most recent sports team to go far in an NCAA tournament, the 1985 women’s soccer team joins the 1996 men’s indoor track and field team as the only Mason teams to win an NCAA championship. From 1982 to 1994, the University of North Carolina women’s soccer team dominated the sport, winning every NCAA soccer national championship with one exception. In 1985, Gmitter-Pittaro and the rest of the Mason soccer team beat UNC 2-0 to capture Mason’s first-ever national title.
“Gmitter[-Pittaro] was valuable to the team as a goal scorer,” said Hank Leung, former Mason women’s soccer head coach. Leung had a previous relationship with GmitterPittaro as her Region I Olympic Development Program coach and scouted her for the Mason team. “She wanted the responsibility of if the game was on the line, she wanted the ball,” Leung said. Her determination proved true when she scored the game-winning goal in the championship game. “She wanted to always win so bad that it hurt. She hated losing,” Leung said. “What was tremendous about her was she was athletically gifted. She was fast and strong.” That year, Gmitter-Pittaro says the team had a lot of heart with a very special bond and a great coaching staff. The team’s chemistry was evident in the game against William and Mary as they fought back with Gmitter-Pittaro, taking the lead to tie up the first round game. Her desire to be a great player shone through and set the tone for the team to go all the way. “As an athlete, I think it is not all physical, a lot of it is mental,” Gmitter-Pittaro said. “I put my heart and soul in everything, because I know if you work hard enough that it pays off.” Soccer has been a part of Gmitter-Pittaro’s life since she was 11 years old. Being in a family of brothers, she recalls thinking she could be a professional football player at one time. After trying many sports as a “tomboy,” she joined a recreational soccer team that started
her career. “More than anything, [Gmitter-Pittaro] just has a desire. She just wanted it,” Leung said. Leung added that Gmitter-Pittaro was an all around “outstanding person,” which made her a good fit for the team. “I thought the sky was the limit for her and she proved me right,” Leung said. That desire and drive that Leung praises is how Gmitter-Pittaro became an NSCAA All-American for most of her college career at Mason. She simultaneously went on to play for the first youth national team ever in the country from 1983-1987. “Winning the national championship [in 1985] was a big achievement in my life, but that was more of a team achievement. Making the U.S. National Team is what I am most proud of,” Gmitter-Pittaro said. Being a good player takes hard work, but Gmitter-Pittaro worked at more than just team play. “I worked so hard individually [to make the U.S. National Team] and to be able to represent your country as one of the top players and travel to represent your country was probably the best highlight,” Gmitter Pittaro said. Her coach also noticed the hard work that Gmitter-Pittaro put into the game. “She worked to develop her own abilities to minimize her weaknesses on her own, apart from whenever the team got together,” Leung said. Her work both on and off the field placed her in the record books. She continues to hold the record for second all-time in goals and game-winning goals at Mason.
Gmitter-Pittaro came through Mason and the U.S. National Team at a time Leung called “the golden generation of women’s soccer.” With many firsts during her career, like playing in the first televised ESPN game for women’s soccer, the NCAA honored Gmitter-Pittaro during their 25th anniversary. “I am one of the pioneers of the game, one of the true goal scorers,” Gmitter-Pittaro said. She was one of eleven other women chosen to represent all 25 years of NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer in 2006. Leung expressed his admiration for Gmitter-Pittaro, saying she deserves to be on the anniversary team. “She is probably in my top five and I’ve been around a lot of players at the national team level all across the country,” Leung said. Gmitter-Pittaro continues to maximize her gift by coaching her daughter’s soccer team and giving back to the youth of Hamilton, New Jersey where she now resides. “I’m the director of coaching for a soccer club and I was recently named director of coaching for the New Jersey Rush. I have also been coaching my daughter’s team and we’re ranked fifth in the state,” Gmitter-Pittaro said. Leung credits Gmitter-Pittaro for greatly impacting the future success of the Mason women’s soccer team. “In my opinion, [Gmitter-Pittaro] put Mason on the map,” Leung said. “We had a lot more people wanting to come to Mason to play, because she made us an attractive option.”