Reese D’Ariano is a field hockey phenom who, even in this age of electronic entertainment and omnipresent video, is spoken about as the stuff of legend, a bit like the way basketball players in the 60s and 70s were talked up through eyewitness accounts and shaky 35mm film.
Yesterday, in a decision which seemed a bit like a foregone conclusion, D’Ariano committed to attending the University of North Carolina, but only after pursuing a spot on the U.S. team for the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.
The reason that UNC seemed to be the obvious choice is D’Ariano’s path in the game of hockey.
Like her future head coach, Erin Matson, D’Ariano chose to train full-time as a high-school student, a path which has been taken by more and more young people these days.
In addition, D’Ariano and Matson have played together on the U.S. indoor side. Both were phenoms on the court, and both played for the W.C. Eagles club in both indoor and outdoor hockey.
D’Ariano, for her part, caught caught the attention of media types since the age of 14 with her selection to the U.S. indoor national team. Yep, as an eighth-grader.
But all you need is a mobile phone to understand the 17-year-old’s immense talent. She has speed, skill, a devil-may-care attitude in front of goal, and a speed of execution that few players have.
She has been capped for the U.S. indoor and outdoor team, and has played for portions of two seasons in the Dutch Hoofdklasse women’s league with the Amsterdam Hockey & Bandy Club.
All the while, she is being homeschooled, not having played a single minute of scholastic hockey. Instead, she has been training with the best competition available. Up until last year, that was with the W.C. Eagles club side, but she has now taken up full-time residency with the U.S. senior women’s national team in Charlotte, N.C.
A lot is going to be expected out of this young woman over the next several years, and it will be interesting to see if this generational talent becomes a transformational talent for this sport.