Striving for Excellence: D’Ariano’s Sacrifice Paying off as Teenager Heads to World Cup

The last name D’Ariano has been pronounced any way you can imagine. There's only one way to say it correctly – it’s Dare-ee-on-oh. In the middle school pickup line, extra syllables slipped in as Reese D’Ariano’s name was called.

“Sometimes, they’d just be like Reese Di–, you know who you are,” said D’Ariano.

Now, people are learning D’Ariano’s name. And as the 17-year-old is suiting up with the nation’s best in the FIH Hockey World Cup, people are learning just how much of a household name D’Ariano may become.

D’Ariano’s journey in sport began in the pool, not on the turf. Growing up, all she wanted to do was beat her two older brothers, Ryan and Landon.

“I followed them around a lot,” said D’Ariano. “Whatever sports they did, I obviously had to do, and I tried to be better than them at it. I was never better than my middle brother at swimming.”

That middle brother, Landon, has completed two years of college swimming, spending freshman year at Texas and transferring to NC State for his sophomore season.

She attended one clinic with the WC Eagles alongside a friend, and was hooked right away. Soon, the WC Eagles were putting her, a U-10-aged player, in tryouts with the U-12 group.

“You’re no longer the best player,” said D’Ariano. “So you have to try that much harder, and work ten times harder than everybody else there to be the best. I was constantly pushed to be better, and then more opportunities started presenting themselves.”

Unlike World Cup teammates Ashley Hoffman or Maddie Zimmer, who once starred in Pennsylvania high school field hockey, D’Ariano has never played in a high school game.

In the aftermath of an abnormal middle school experience, riddled by the COVID-19 pandemic, D’Ariano and her mom, Jodie, looked into the options for high school. Being fully in-person at West Chester Rustin wasn’t appealing to the D’Ariano family, knowing how much training time would be left on the table. D'Ariano's proposal, going in-person for the morning and virtual for the afternoon, didn’t fit the school’s structure.

“We just decided to say, ‘Hey, it didn't work out here. Let's just go online. I've been online ever since.”

The goal when Reese entered high school was to allow for as normal a teenage, high school life as possible. She’s well aware it didn’t pan out that way. She’s never had a high school prom or been in a student section of a high school football game, as other high school girls have.

She’s not really bothered by it.

“When I looked at it, I saw the fact that ‘so-and-so’ was going to Friday night football games and prom and I'm traveling to South Africa with the indoor team,” said D’Ariano. “And for me, that majorly outweighed the other.”

This fall, D’Ariano will begin her final year at Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School. To give herself active eligibility to go to a Pennsylvania school, her dad, Frank, still lives in Pennsylvania. She spends some of her time in her home state, but otherwise lives with her mom in North Carolina, as part of the centralized program with the U.S. Women's National Team.

She knows that there’s a sacrifice there, too. It’s been months since all five D’Ariano’s have been in the same room. It won’t always be like this, with everyone so far away, but Reese is just endlessly grateful for a family that has been such a source of support, emotionally and logistically.

“I don't really know other parents that have done that or would do that,” she said.

As of now, D’Ariano isn’t entirely sure when that day will come when she goes off to Chapel Hill for college. The next Olympic Games are in 2028, so a gap year to train in the 2027-28 academic year would make sense. Right now, that’s the idea she has. It could absolutely change if NCAA eligibility rules change between now until then.

“I want to take the gap year and then do the Olympic [Games], but who knows what is going to happen,” said D’Ariano. “There could be another act passed that says once you graduate high school, you have to go to college right away. Knowing every situation and how we're gonna handle each scenario is very important to [North Carolina head coach Erin Matson], so we've definitely probably talked out way more scenarios than we needed to. But that means no matter what happens, we're going to be prepared.”

Matson, who played with D’Ariano at the 2024 Indoor Pan American Cup and 2025 FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup, was also on the roster in the 2018 World Cup at 18 years old, the most recent time the USWNT played in the tournament.

Now, her recruit will do so at 17, as the team’s youngest rostered player by a considerable margin. Because of how she’s treated by her teammates, she’s never been uncomfortable with the age difference.

“I've never felt like an outsider for my age or any reason,” said D’Ariano. “I mean, obviously we're going to joke around about it. I joke around all the time. Like, I just got my driver's license, and everyone's like, ‘You just got your driver's license? I graduated college.’”

So far, D’Ariano’s journey has been marked by being willing to do things that other people aren’t willing to do. She’s missed out on the typical teenager experience. But she’s also been all over the world and played alongside the best in the country.

Alongside four other goals for the next five years, a list that included: becoming an Olympian, winning three or four NCAA Championships, going to the Junior World Cup, and getting a dog – she also wants to medal at the World Cup this summer.

The opportunity will be there for D’Ariano and the United States soon, as the Americans kick off the tournament on August 15 against Argentina.

It’ll also be another resume item for D’Ariano, who’s collected World Championship experience like no one else in her young career.