For the last couple of years, I’ve been singing the praises of a field hockey player that, likely, you’ve never seen live on the field of play.
Today, in the semifinal match of the Rohrmax Cup, an indoor field hockey tournament which is a precursor to the FIH Indoor World Cup next month in Croatia, the United States received an enormous performance from high-school sophomore Reese D’Ariano in an 8-5 win over Poland.
D’Ariano, who lives in the Route 322-422 Corridor in Chester County, Pa., is a charter-school student who doesn’t play for a high-school team, but instead trains on her own and with the W.C. Eagles club side.
All of that training over the years has made her into a player who first received notice at the international level as the youngest player to compete at the 2023 FIH Indoor World Cup, as well as being the United States’ leading scorer.
D’Ariano scored four goals in the fourth quarter for the United Eagles, but it was Opal Sparling who lit the touch paper. With the game tied 3-3 entering the final term, the Hill School junior scored a right-handed shot from deep on the left wing that evaded the Poland goalkeeper.
From then on, D’Ariano would score in a variety of different scenarios. A minute after the Sparling goal, she made a run into the circle up the right side and wrongfooted Poland’s keeper. She found net again only a couple of minutes later on her patented quick-release penalty corner flick into the top corner.
D’Ariano would then interpose herself on a high press on the Poland defense, picking off a pass and deftling beating a charging Poland goalie. Her final goal came with Poland pulling the goalkeeper. She scored from deep in the left-wing corner, somehow finding the sliver between the goalposts.
The win sends the States to tomorrow’s women’s final against Belgium at 9:15 a.m. The Americans had dropped a pool-play match earlier in this championship on an innocuous play in the final two minutes that led to the Red Panthers’ 7-6 win.
It should be equally thrilling tomorrow for the United Eagles.