MARS — It didn't take Bella Alampi long to discover how different things were going to be on the lacrosse field at Lafayette College.

Ten seconds, to be exact.

It only took Alampi that long in her collegiate game two years ago to pick up a foul.

“Our senior captain turned to me and said, 'Bella's only been in the game for 10 seconds and she got a yellow card. How did that just happen?'” said Lafayette coach Alison Fisher, chuckling. “I think her freshman year she was a little overwhelmed. She's definitely learned how to rein in her aggressiveness and slow down — she was going a million miles per hour — and use her athleticism to her advantage.”

The Mars native rebounded from a freshman year in which she played sparingly to become a secret weapon for the Leopards last season.

Predominantly coming off the bench, Alampi scored 18 goals in just 17 games as a midfielder.

Not bad for a player who picked up the lacrosse stick for the first time when she was in the eighth grade.

“Most of my teammates and the people we play against have been carrying a stick since they were babies,” Alampi said.

Not so for Alampi, who played just about every other sport — from soccer to softball to basketball, track and field and cross country and even field hockey — before discovering lacrosse.

As soon as she finally got the lacrosse stick in her hand, those other sports faded from her consciousness.

Lacrosse had her.

“I didn't want to play anything else,” Alampi said. “I've loved it since.”

Alampi flashed raw talent in the sport from the start.

During her freshman year at Oakland Catholic, she mostly played defensive midfield, but showed off her tremendous speed and agility.

When her father, Joe, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, before her sophomore year, she left Oakland Catholic and enrolled at Mars.

The Planets were in their inaugural year and Alampi dominated, scoring 97 goals.

She returned to Oakland Catholic the next season and finished her career there, scoring more than 200 goals.

Still, Alampi was still raw, getting by on athletic ability.

She was determined at Lafayette to learn the intricacies of the game.

“When I got to Lafayette, I became a small fish in a big pond pretty quickly,” Alampi said. “I didn't let it stifle me. I think the biggest thing I learned was I needed to play smart and still play hard. I had to learn to choose different shots, smarter shots, and when to just pass it. I think my lacrosse IQ has really improved.”

Fisher believes the same.

She's seen Alampi's development in just two short years and said she's eager to witness the next step in her evolution as a player.

“She is a really talented, natural athlete,” Fisher said. “Couple that with her fierce competitiveness and her work ethic and she has all the tools to be a very difficult player for other teams to defend.

“We see her as a full-time midfielder,” Fisher added. “Her ability to run for a full 60 minutes and give effort and energy on both the offensive and defensive end will be really big for us. I can't wait to see how she develops.”