Comets’ Caporuscio took her games to a new level in 2022-23

Headed to Stony Brook after stellar Crestwood career

by Steve Stallone Sports Editor

Entering her senior year, Isabella Caporuscio had long since established herself as the premier high school girls’ lacrosse player and field hockey goalie in the area.

She was already signed to continue her academic and lacrosse careers at Division I Stony Brook University and had little left to prove.

Anyone who’s familiar with Bella’s drive, will to win, and her desire to constantly improve knew that she was far from finished raising the bar -- for her or her Crestwood teammates.

So, she went to work and took her games up another notch.

“Athletics essentially taught me that everything is a self-earned thing, nothing comes easy. If I want to achieve something, I need to work hard for it,” Caporuscio said this week. “Especially throughout my high school career, (sports) made me realize if I wanted to make something happen, I had to get after it myself. That was one of the things that I’ve learned through this whole process so far.”

With Caporuscio stopping goals for the field hockey team, and pouring them in for the girls’ lacrosse team, both programs enjoyed stellar seasons in 2022-23, each winning their third consecutive District 2 Class 2A championships.

In field hockey, she racked up 77 saves, posted two shutouts in the playoffs, and helped the Lady Comets beat West Chester East 3-1 in the opening round of the state tournament on her way to first team All-State honors.

In the spring, Caporuscio poured in a jaw-dropping 159 goals and assisted on 49 others from her attack position, earning Wyoming Valley Conference MVP honors while leading Crestwood back to the state lacrosse playoffs for a third straight time.

Her accomplishments have been singled out in the local media. Last week she accepted the 2022-23 Female Athlete of the Year Award from the WilkesBarre Citizens’ Voice, and this week she will collect her second straight Hazleton Standard-Speaker Female Athlete of the Year Award. “I just kept working hard to try and have the best season I can,” she said. “I’m constantly trying to improve some things. There’s nothing anyone is perfect at. I keep trying to fix my game up a little bit and try to make myself the best player I could be year after year, and always try to improve different areas of my game.”

Her big senior season started in the fall, when she was the area’s premier backstop for the field hockey team. Her air-tight defense was a key factor in the team’s 14-8 season and threepeat in the district championship game. Mechanicsburg needed overtime to finally end Crestwood’s season with a 3-2 victory in the state quarterfinals. Caporuscio made 11 saves in her final field hockey game.

“Field hockey was awesome. I’m so glad I went out for the field hockey team as a freshman. It was an awesome sport and an awesome atmosphere,” Caporuscio said.

As good as she is in goal, her main sport is lacrosse, one handed down to her from her father Aaron, who played collegiately at Albany. Her older brother Anthony starred in lacrosse at Crestwood, was the District 2 Offensive Player of the Year, had more than 300 career goals and also went on to play in college.

“That is all I knew growing up,” she said. “My dad grew up with it, my brother grew up with it and I fell in love with it. That is how we bonded when I was younger. Lots of lacrosse games in the backyard.”

Through AAU travel play and work in the backyard, Caporuscio continued to hone her skills and develop new shots through the offseason and hit the ground running this past spring. Her 159 goals and 208 points far and away led all area scorers. That play helped open things up for her teammates, and resulted in an impressive 19-3 season that didn’t end until the first round of states. Caporuscio put up a big scoring total despite heavy pressurefrom high expectations to every defense designed to slow her down.

“Facing adversity was definitely the biggest thing, because the past couple of years I was a little bit younger, and I think the expectations were a little higher this year,” she explained. “I needed to learn to accept the fact that I wasn’t going to score on every shot that I took, or I wasn’t going to get every ground ball I fought for. Just kind of learning how to get back up when something doesn’t go my way, and continuing to compete to the best of my abilities.”

When asked to pick out a most special moment to her final lacrosse season, Caporuscio was hardpressed to narrow it down that far.

“It was the passion that I’ve seen throughout the season,” she said. “I’ve seen it other years, but this year, throughout the whole district, the amount of girls who are starting to really love the game was super cool. Just the level of competition, learning how to lose and win the proper way. There’s not one specific thing I can pick out. The