Kari Buonanno and the U.S. U19 women's national team will be competing in this weekend's Team USA Fall Classic on Tierney Field at US Lacrosse Headquarters. The U.S. men's senior team will kick off a doubleheader on Oct. 6 against NCAA champions Yale at noon, followed by the U.S. women's senior team battling James Madison at 3 p.m. The U.S. women's U19 team is slated for a Blue-White game at 7 p.m. on Saturday, followed by a matchup with Navy on Sunday at 4 p.m.
Nearly one month after being named to the 2019 U.S. women’s under-19 training team, Princeton commit Kari Buonanno found a piece of paper on which she had written notes from her first recruiting phone call in eighth grade.
It listed two goals — become a Division I player and a U.S. national team player.
While she still needs to finish her senior year at Moses Brown (R.I.) and continue to impress to make the final Team USA roster, she considers both goals accomplished.
“From the beginning, it’s been a dream of mine, but something that felt a little unrealistic,” said Buonanno, a two-sport star in field hockey and lacrosse. “When they announced my number at tryouts, it felt so amazing because I’ve been working so hard for so long. [To my eighth-grade self,] I would say keep working because you actually have a chance – and that’s pretty cool.”
Prior to tryouts, nerves were running high, but her parents, Heidi and Bernie, who also played sports at Ivy League schools — field hockey at Dartmouth and lacrosse at Brown, respectively — reminded her that she was invited for a reason.
“[They] always told me working hard is all you can do,” said Buonanno, whose aunt, also named Kari, played for Princeton coach Chris Sailer’s first-ever team. “Whatever comes from that is great, but you have to put your best foot forward.”
Her dad, who calls her family “The Team,” said the competitive drive to succeed will take hold on Tierney Field.
“My dad, he’s funny,” Buonanno said with a laugh. “I have three siblings. He likes to send us articles about things we can do better. He’ll draw little plays he wants us to try. He’ll go to the field with us and play wall ball for an hour. He definitely plays a significant role. I do appreciate it — most of the time.”
To ease her nerves, Buonanno drew from her experience in last year’s state field hockey championship, when one of her teammates went down with an injury. While Moses Brown lost in triple overtime, Buonanno learned the importance of mental toughness.
“This is where it counts, just being a leader and having positive body language,” she said. “I wanted to go into the tryout consciously reminding myself to stay calm. One thing the coaches made clear was you’re having fun with the tryout. Try not to worry too much and your play would follow from that. … Show that resilience and battle through.”
As a result, Buonanno joined the short list of representatives from Rhode Island to wear the stars and stripes. The only player from the state to make the final roster for the U.S. U19 women’s team was Emily Fenwick in 1995.
Buonanno hopes to become the second.
“That’s the goal,” she said. “It’s so cool coming from the smallest state and be able to hopefully compete on the international stage. I think because the U.S. fell short four years ago in the gold medal match, that’s definitely the goal. I want to bring back gold for the U.S. and I want to represent Rhode Island doing that. It’s a really exciting opportunity.”