St. Charles East's Miller
hopes for scoring spree encore
By Dave Owen
In just two years as a St. Charles East soccer player, Hannah Miller has already done a little bit of everything.
Or to be more accurate, make that a lot of everything.
Miller joined the Saints varsity as a freshman, starting at defender as St. Charles East posted 13 shutouts en route to a 13-6-6 record and a regional title.
For an encore, Miller played at both attacking midfielder and then forward as a sophomore. The incredible offensive numbers of last spring (23 goals, 13 assists last season) say it all.
But based on an aggressive style that Miller showed even when she played defender, the monster numbers were no big surprise.
“When I was playing defense a lot freshman year it was kind of funny, because we would notice how I would always get lost going up (towards the offensive end) so far,” Miller said.
“So when one of our forwards got hurt, they (the SCE coaches) were like ‘You might as well try an outside forward because you like to go up and score goals.’
“So I’ve definitely liked playing forward a lot more,” Miller added. “It gives me the freedom to go forward, which I like, and not have to track back as much.”
Miller just loves to be on the soccer field at all. But put her in position to score, and her switch flips on.
“I guess it is a different mentality,” Miller said. “It’s more of a scoring mentality to try to go forward and get more creative with more dribbling.
“I love forward a lot more than I did defense. It’s definitely a change, but I love getting forward and creating opportunities to help my team score.”
After seeing what Miller accomplished last season, Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo shares her enthusiasm and sees a player that is the complete package of skills and winning mentality.
“She is someone who means so much to our team with her ability to create for herself and others,” DiNuzzo said. “Her endurance and motor make her someone that does not need to come off of the field. And she is a humble and kind individual who truly just wants to win.
“She started with us as a freshman and started at right back,” DiNuzzo added. “As the season progressed, we started to transition her up-top. Then that fall club season she made the switch to the forward position permanent.”
In the spring season at St. Charles East, Miller’s move to forward gave the Saints one of the best offensive one-two punches in the state.
With Mississippi State-bound Elle McCaslin generating 29 goals and 15 assists in 2019, the Saints left opposing defenses in a no-win dilemma.
“Hannah is someone that teams preparing for us have to be ready for,” DiNuzzo said, “because if they ease off of her and focus on Elle it is likely that Hannah will exploit that opportunity.”
McCaslin and Miller combined for 52 goals last year. To put that in perspective, Class 3A state champion Naperville North’s entire team scored 47 goals.
“Me and Elle, I feel we work really well with each other,” Miller said. “We kind of know what each other are going to do, so that we can make the right run or that we can work together really well.
“Elle is very good at taking the sideline and dribbling and getting those balls across to me so I’m able to get that one touch into the goal.”
The double-digit assist totals both stars had also speaks well to their focus on teamwork.
“I feel that getting both (goals and assists) is definitely a strong suit for both of us,” Miller said. “We know when to be selfish and when not to be selfish. We both have the mentality to work as a team, so I think that’s why we’re able to play those crosses. Because we both just want to win for the team.”
The wins certainly came.
The Saints finished with a 22-6-0 record in 2019, the program’s highest win total since then-St. Charles High School went 27-2-2 in the state title winning season of 2000.
The return of McCaslin, Miller and other proven players like Alondra Carranza, Christina Hull and Jessica Stepien (among many) had St. Charles East’s hopes of contending for the 2020 state title looking very possible.
Then came the shutdown from the COVID-19 virus, and a delay in the season opener until at least May 1.
“It was definitely very frustrating and sad the day (during preseason practices) we found out that we wouldn’t be able to go into play, and we had to stop,” Miller said.
“But we’re not stopping. We’re all training really hard/ We’re doing workout competitions like juggling competitions, and really every day texting everyone to keep up the work and not stop.
Because we still do have the hope of going back and being able to play more games.”
Though unable to get together for practice, the Saints have tried to do everything possible to stay sharp.
“I think each of us have individually put in the work to go on runs and to keep our fitness up,” Miller said. “And when we can go to the field, work on what we need to individually.
“We’ve really been encouraging each other, and we believe in each other to put in the work; because we all want to hopefully become state champions.”
If Miller improves this year as much as last, that state championship bid will be very realistic for the Chicagoland Soccer All-State Watch List member and her teammates.
“When my position did change (to forward),” Miller said, “one thing I really wanted to focus on was having more goal accuracy and getting my goal total up more.
“I feel I’ve improved a lot with my goal scoring, and also with my crosses. I’m more connected to the players in the front than I was prior.
“I know how to play with them, and we know how each other plays so we can help each other be successful and the team be successful.”
While the main focus for now is restarting the 2020 season and chasing state glory, Miller should be in demand among college programs when she graduates from St. Charles East in 2021.
“I’m really keeping my options open,” Miller said. “My goal is to play soccer, be it (Division) I or II. I really want soccer to be in my future.
“I’d rather focus on my major and hope that soccer follows, but for sure I see soccer as something I want to keep up.”
DiNuzzo endorses that idea.
“She is in the recruiting process and has some nice offers on the table,” he said, “but this stoppage in play has paused some of those talks temporarily.”
College can wait for now, as Miller and her teammates savor their time in the tradition-rich St. Charles East program.
“We all understand how grateful we are to represent the orange and black,” Miller said. “We all want to be there because we love the sport, and I can see everyone putting in the hard work every practice and every day, pushing each other to be our best selves.
“I think that’s what’s so special here. We’re not all individual players. We care about each other, our school and making our school proud of us and ourselves proud of each other. That’s the cool thing. Everyone wants everyone else to be their best. It’s so amazing.”
Hopes remain at St. Charles East for the agonizing 2020 season to have an amazing ending. An end to the season shutdown is obvious. Miller sees other on-field keys.
“Keeping that mentality of wanting to win, being physical and keeping our skills up to date,” she said. “Just getting back to the fundamentals of working as a team. That’s something we’re really good at, knowing how each other plays.
“And our physicality is something we’ve been working on. But we need to keep the fitness aspect up (during this break) so we can stay aggressive all 80 minutes. That’s something I think will really help us.”
hopes for scoring spree encore
By Dave Owen
In just two years as a St. Charles East soccer player, Hannah Miller has already done a little bit of everything.
Or to be more accurate, make that a lot of everything.
Miller joined the Saints varsity as a freshman, starting at defender as St. Charles East posted 13 shutouts en route to a 13-6-6 record and a regional title.
For an encore, Miller played at both attacking midfielder and then forward as a sophomore. The incredible offensive numbers of last spring (23 goals, 13 assists last season) say it all.
But based on an aggressive style that Miller showed even when she played defender, the monster numbers were no big surprise.
“When I was playing defense a lot freshman year it was kind of funny, because we would notice how I would always get lost going up (towards the offensive end) so far,” Miller said.
“So when one of our forwards got hurt, they (the SCE coaches) were like ‘You might as well try an outside forward because you like to go up and score goals.’
“So I’ve definitely liked playing forward a lot more,” Miller added. “It gives me the freedom to go forward, which I like, and not have to track back as much.”
Miller just loves to be on the soccer field at all. But put her in position to score, and her switch flips on.
“I guess it is a different mentality,” Miller said. “It’s more of a scoring mentality to try to go forward and get more creative with more dribbling.
“I love forward a lot more than I did defense. It’s definitely a change, but I love getting forward and creating opportunities to help my team score.”
After seeing what Miller accomplished last season, Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo shares her enthusiasm and sees a player that is the complete package of skills and winning mentality.
“She is someone who means so much to our team with her ability to create for herself and others,” DiNuzzo said. “Her endurance and motor make her someone that does not need to come off of the field. And she is a humble and kind individual who truly just wants to win.
“She started with us as a freshman and started at right back,” DiNuzzo added. “As the season progressed, we started to transition her up-top. Then that fall club season she made the switch to the forward position permanent.”
In the spring season at St. Charles East, Miller’s move to forward gave the Saints one of the best offensive one-two punches in the state.
With Mississippi State-bound Elle McCaslin generating 29 goals and 15 assists in 2019, the Saints left opposing defenses in a no-win dilemma.
“Hannah is someone that teams preparing for us have to be ready for,” DiNuzzo said, “because if they ease off of her and focus on Elle it is likely that Hannah will exploit that opportunity.”
McCaslin and Miller combined for 52 goals last year. To put that in perspective, Class 3A state champion Naperville North’s entire team scored 47 goals.
“Me and Elle, I feel we work really well with each other,” Miller said. “We kind of know what each other are going to do, so that we can make the right run or that we can work together really well.
“Elle is very good at taking the sideline and dribbling and getting those balls across to me so I’m able to get that one touch into the goal.”
The double-digit assist totals both stars had also speaks well to their focus on teamwork.
“I feel that getting both (goals and assists) is definitely a strong suit for both of us,” Miller said. “We know when to be selfish and when not to be selfish. We both have the mentality to work as a team, so I think that’s why we’re able to play those crosses. Because we both just want to win for the team.”
The wins certainly came.
The Saints finished with a 22-6-0 record in 2019, the program’s highest win total since then-St. Charles High School went 27-2-2 in the state title winning season of 2000.
The return of McCaslin, Miller and other proven players like Alondra Carranza, Christina Hull and Jessica Stepien (among many) had St. Charles East’s hopes of contending for the 2020 state title looking very possible.
Then came the shutdown from the COVID-19 virus, and a delay in the season opener until at least May 1.
“It was definitely very frustrating and sad the day (during preseason practices) we found out that we wouldn’t be able to go into play, and we had to stop,” Miller said.
“But we’re not stopping. We’re all training really hard/ We’re doing workout competitions like juggling competitions, and really every day texting everyone to keep up the work and not stop.
Because we still do have the hope of going back and being able to play more games.”
Though unable to get together for practice, the Saints have tried to do everything possible to stay sharp.
“I think each of us have individually put in the work to go on runs and to keep our fitness up,” Miller said. “And when we can go to the field, work on what we need to individually.
“We’ve really been encouraging each other, and we believe in each other to put in the work; because we all want to hopefully become state champions.”
If Miller improves this year as much as last, that state championship bid will be very realistic for the Chicagoland Soccer All-State Watch List member and her teammates.
“When my position did change (to forward),” Miller said, “one thing I really wanted to focus on was having more goal accuracy and getting my goal total up more.
“I feel I’ve improved a lot with my goal scoring, and also with my crosses. I’m more connected to the players in the front than I was prior.
“I know how to play with them, and we know how each other plays so we can help each other be successful and the team be successful.”
While the main focus for now is restarting the 2020 season and chasing state glory, Miller should be in demand among college programs when she graduates from St. Charles East in 2021.
“I’m really keeping my options open,” Miller said. “My goal is to play soccer, be it (Division) I or II. I really want soccer to be in my future.
“I’d rather focus on my major and hope that soccer follows, but for sure I see soccer as something I want to keep up.”
DiNuzzo endorses that idea.
“She is in the recruiting process and has some nice offers on the table,” he said, “but this stoppage in play has paused some of those talks temporarily.”
College can wait for now, as Miller and her teammates savor their time in the tradition-rich St. Charles East program.
“We all understand how grateful we are to represent the orange and black,” Miller said. “We all want to be there because we love the sport, and I can see everyone putting in the hard work every practice and every day, pushing each other to be our best selves.
“I think that’s what’s so special here. We’re not all individual players. We care about each other, our school and making our school proud of us and ourselves proud of each other. That’s the cool thing. Everyone wants everyone else to be their best. It’s so amazing.”
Hopes remain at St. Charles East for the agonizing 2020 season to have an amazing ending. An end to the season shutdown is obvious. Miller sees other on-field keys.
“Keeping that mentality of wanting to win, being physical and keeping our skills up to date,” she said. “Just getting back to the fundamentals of working as a team. That’s something we’re really good at, knowing how each other plays.
“And our physicality is something we’ve been working on. But we need to keep the fitness aspect up (during this break) so we can stay aggressive all 80 minutes. That’s something I think will really help us.”