Last night, the U.S. women’s national field hockey team played its opening round pool match in the FIH Nations Cup tournament, an eight-nation competition whose winner is eligible to ascend to the FIH Pro League.
You might have noticed that one player’s uniform was slightly different from all the rest. Sure, they all had the requisite sponsor logos as well as the kit sponsor, Capelli.
But if you looked at the number and name fonts on the back, one uniform looked different. Reese D’Ariano, making her international debut against Canada, had just come from the FIH Indoor World Cup. She wore the same kit that she wore during that competition, with stylized block numerals and lettering on the back. Meanwhile, the rest of the team had rounded name and number fonts:
She may have looked a bit different when you saw at her from the back, but that was about it.
Reese D’Ariano looks like she belongs in a U.S. shirt, no matter what the lettering is. She is the latest of a number of teenagers who have been given the opportunity to excel on the world stage.
There have been others, like Tracey Fuchs and Amy Stopford and Katie O’Donnell and Katelyn Falgowski and Erin Matson and Mackenzie Allessie. Some have had great success internationally.
But D’Ariano is taking the road less-traveled. Like Matson and Madison Orobono before her, she has opted out of scholastic field hockey. She is homeschooled, something she is used to because of the COVID-19 era of education. She could have opted to play for one of the schools located near her Chester County home, but has been training full-time. She has trained with W.C. Eagles club team as well as the senior national team.
About the only time you get to see her play these days are in a U.S. shirt, and you can’t blame her wanting to find the best competition available. She is a very quick player with great skills and a devil-may-care attitude in front of cage.
Last evening against Canada, D’Ariano looked very dangerous in a roaming central attacking position, sometimes being the point of the arrow as a full forward, sometimes tracking back to be a player coming into a space left vacant by the Canadian defense.
In the final 10 minutes, the home-schooled high-schooler almost got a goal on her international debut, but she cranked a forehand high and wide with the goalkeeper at her mercy.
Somehow, I get the feeling she’ll get more chances.