Friday night was movie night at the Reese household when Madison and Meghan were growing up.
The twins would cuddle up in blankets with their two younger sisters and cram in on the couch, while their parents sat in recliners to watch a movie together. Their dad would usually pick the movie, which was either action or adventure-themed, unless he was at work, which meant their mom would choose the film and she always chose chick flicks. The family would snack on popcorn as they watched the movie. If the twins had a game on Friday night, then this routine would be done on Saturday night.
Born 16 minutes apart, Madison (the oldest daughter) and Meghan have always been "super close" and done everything together so when they started the recruiting process in high school at Southern Lehigh, they decided they were going to go to the same place for college. However, this plan was delayed when Madison noticed a pain in her right ankle while playing field hockey during her freshman year.
"I didn't bring attention to it," Madison said of the pain she was experiencing in her ankle. "I was just kind of playing through it, like 'Don't be a baby Madison just keep pushing through'."
As Madison continued to play through the pain, her coach and dad saw that she was not fully healthy, so they pulled her aside and talked with her about the injury.
"They said 'You're limping on the field, you can't continue to play'," Madison said.
Madison's dad decided to take her to get a MRI and the doctor that reviewed the results from the scan recommended that she see a foot specialist because she had suffered a medial talar dome lesion injury, which stopped cartilage growth in her ankle, and he did not feel comfortable operating on it.
Madison had been running around on the field with a hole in her ankle, where the bones would be rubbing against each other as she ran.
After getting the MRI results and recommendation from the doctor, Madison's dad drove her to Maryland to meet with Dr. Lew C. Schon, a world-renowned foot specialist. When Schon got the MRI results he said "We really need to take care of this" and surgery was scheduled for July 9th 2015.
After a successful surgery, Madison could not move for about five months without using a scooter and missed her sophomore season.
"It was really hard," Madison said. "It put me back in my development with field hockey and Meghan could continue playing so it was kind of hard having to sit on the bench and watch everyone play but it just made me realize how grateful I am to be able to play now."
While Madison recovered from her injury sophomore year, Meghan earned First-team All-Colonial League, Second-team all-state and verbally committed to Penn State. Although Madison was sidelined, Meghan made sure that her sister was included during the field hockey season by having her do spirit days with the team.
Meghan also helped Madison out when she was using a scooter to get around by making sure to grab the elevator key for her at school, walking her to class and making sure that she was taking her medicine to control the pain from surgery.
Madison was able to start playing again in February of her sophomore year.
Later that year, Madison and Meghan attended a 7v7 field hockey tournament at Penn State with their club team, Spooky Nook Sports, where they impressed the coaching staff. They also unofficially visited Penn State a couple of times and went to a few summer camps.
Madison and Meghan are both Penn State legacies, as six relatives have attended the University, so when they came to campus to visit and participate in the tournament/camp they made it clear to the coaching staff that they wanted to attend Penn State together.
"When we were looking at other schools we were like 'We're a package deal, if you take one of us, you have to take both of us' and what was really cool about Penn State was they were all for it," Meghan said. "They totally loved that we wanted to come to school together and they supported it."
The coaching staff went out and saw both Madison and Meghan play in high school and club games, which confirmed what they saw at the tournament and summer camps.
"They've always had a passion for Penn State and we knew that they were very interested," Penn State head coach Char Morett-Curtiss said. "It was mutual love. We really liked what we saw in both those girls."
Following the conclusion of summer camp at Penn State her junior year, Madison was offered the opportunity to join her best friend, Meghan, and attend Penn State. Madison and Meghan both signed their National Letters of Intent to attend Penn State this past January.
Before Madison and Meghan won multiple titles playing for Spooky Nook Sports, they worked with coach Chelton Hunter at Spooky Nook Sports on regaining their creativity on the field and building their confidence after their experience of playing "robotic" field hockey at their previous club.
Hunter worked with Madison and Meghan one-on-one on being more deceive and creative on the field, in addition to helping them with stick skills.
"Chelton was able to help us break those habits like not being creative and bringing creativity back into our game," Meghan said.
"He took a good interest in us and helped us prepare for the collegiate level," Madison said.
Now freshmen at Penn State, Madison and Meghan are roommates and share a room on the fourth floor of their residence hall. They moved in over the summer so that they could attend summer classes and preseason conditioning but Madison had to set up the room since Meghan was at a national field hockey event.
"I had to move in all by myself and set up her dorm," Madison said in between laughs. "We're all the way up on the fourth floor and the line for the elevators was really backed up so I had to carry all the bins up the stairs. I'm like 'You owe me'."
This season Madison is redshirting and wants to use it as a chance to work on her confidence, get used to playing against collegiate players and learn from the older players on the team. Meghan had a strong preseason and has been one of the first substitutions off the bench this season for Penn State because of her aggressiveness on the field, scoring her first collegiate goal and recording her first collegiate assist against Kent State earlier this month. The coaching staff is trying to make Meghan, a forward, into an attacking midfielder because she gets back on defense and tackles well.
"They're both very coachable and they're very conscientious about being successful academically and athletically," Morett-Curtiss said. "I think their eyes were a little wide open with the intensity of this program when they first got here but they totally embraced it."
Although Madison and Meghan no longer attend movie night at home in Coopersburg, Pa., their parents, who attend both home and road games dressed in Penn State apparel from head to toe, still get to see their oldest daughters on Friday nights from the stands instead of their recliners at Penn State field hockey games.
"It's awesome, the support that we get from our parents and our younger sisters," Madison said of her family attending games. "It's always been like that and even though we're three hours away from home, it's nice knowing that they come up and support us."
