After six years with the U.S. Field Hockey Women’s National Team, Danielle Grega is hanging up the stick.
The former Wyoming Valley West standout announced Tuesday she was retiring from the squad, capping off a decorated career that saw her compete in 91 international matches and score 24 goals as a striker for Team USA.
“It is not often that as an athlete you get the chance to compete at such a high level, and I am so grateful that I was given that opportunity,” Grega said through USA Field Hockey. “I think it is every competitive athlete’s dream to play at the highest level, or at least it was certainly mine, and I am so proud of myself to have worked so hard over the years and persevered through every obstacle that I faced in order to make that dream a reality.”
Grega, 28, starred as an all-state selection for Valley West, racking up 50 goals and 27 assists in her Spartans career and added to the long history of WVC field hockey players going on to play in the Division 1 ranks in college at Old Dominion.
An All-Big East pick with the Monarchs, Grega was named team MVP as a senior and got her first international cap with the senior USWNT in 2018.
The Kingston native said her career highlight was helping the team rebound from missing the Olympics in 2020 to qualifying for the 2024 Games in Paris.
“It was a full circle moment and something that I am so proud of myself and the team for making possible,” Grega said. “… I took so much pride in getting to wear USA on my chest every day in practice and especially games. The camaraderie is unlike anything else and is so much more than the individual athlete or sport, it is about getting the chance to represent your country on the international stage and play amongst and for those who are all unified toward the same goal.”
Grega also represented her country twice at the Pan American Games with the 2023 squad bringing home silver from Santiago, Chile. Grega was named to the 2023 Pan American Elite Team.
“Dani has been a long standing member of the U.S. Women’s National Team committing to the important move to the centralized program through the relocation to Charlotte,” USWNT head coach David Passmore said through the program. “Her unique skill set and smart defensive play was key to our Paris qualification and Pan American Games silver medal. I speak for the whole management team and athlete group when we wish Dani the best for her future and life with her fiancé Lucas.”
Grega credited her faith, family and teammates as well as the help of local field hockey luminaries such as Linda Fithian, Kim Barbacci, Lauren Powley and Lunda Comiskey for her development in high school and at the club level.
She said she plans to pursue a career in healthcare, with an eye toward medical device or pharmaceutical sales, while staying involved in field hockey when she and her fiancé settle in at their new home in Las Vegas.
“I have been challenged in so many ways that I would have never imagined and have grown tremendously not only as a player, but as a person in so many aspects of life,” Grega said. “I am beyond grateful for the amazing career I have had, the places I got to travel to, cultures and hockey communities I have got to experience, lessons I have learned, friends I will have for life, and ultimately the opportunity to represent my country.
“It is all that plus the small moments that have made this crazy journey so worth it and a chapter of my life that I will truly never forget.”
The post Former Valley West field hockey standout Danielle Grega retires from USWNT appeared first on Times Leader.