Much of the time, Sophia Miller’s hard work and unselfish nature flies under the radar.
As senior captain and central defender of the Paul VI High School girls soccer team, Miller’s job is to keep things calm and quiet on her end of the field. She also quietly gives young soccer players a chance to wear some pretty cool uniforms.
Miller – as part of a service project with her club team, Real Jersey Football Club in Medford – collects and donates old soccer uniforms for children in need. The idea came from club teammate Thea Spellmeyer, a Haddonfield graduate who now plays at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Miller became heavily involved with the tradition and enjoys giving new life to some threads that will most surely be enjoyed by youth players in the Pittsburgh community.
Miller said they donated about 50 uniforms last time they were in Western Pennsylvania. It was hard to let go of the sentimental value in the old uniforms, but she knew they were going to good use.
“It’s great to see that the uniforms aren’t going to waste,” Miller said. “It’s something that used to be so special to us and now other people will experience that same joy and make their own memories in those same uniforms.”
Miller’s generosity and work ethic were just a few of the reasons she was selected to be one of Paul VI’s captains last year as a junior. Coach Karen Anderson knew she had a sturdy defender with leadership qualities at one of the most important positions.
“In my opinion, she’s one of the best defenders that I’ve seen in this area,” Anderson said. “She is, hands down, always calm and collective on the ball and has great communication with her midfield and back line.”
Her communication skills proved most important last season when the Eagles needed to improvise at the goaltender position when they were without a true keeper. Emily Monforto, a junior midfielder/striker at the time, stepped up to play goalie and saved the season. However, there was a transition period and a learning curve that first had to be conquered.
“It was definitely nerve-wracking knowing we had someone in the net that was still learning, but after the first few games, I knew that she was solid,” Miller said of Monforto. “She’s worked very well under pressure and she took all the critiquing that she could. After a little while, we saw she was going to be a key player for us.”
Paul VI entered the playoffs as underdogs with a modest 8-7 record and rode a hot streak all the way into the Non-Public A state championship after winning the South Jersey title over Red Bank Catholic. The Eagles even led in the state championship game before falling in overtime to Immaculate Heart.
“We had a great run last year,” Miller said. “You would look at all the predictions, and they all had us losing every game. That was our motivation. … This year, we’re coming back hungrier than ever with talent across all four grade levels.”
The Paul VI program looks strong under Anderson, who won the school’s first South Jersey girls soccer title as a player in 1999. There’s an infusion of young talent with a strong incoming freshman class and a stable of reliable, experienced upperclassmen on the roster. Paul VI lost only two senior starters from last year’s 12-8 team in Olivia Brocious and Brooke Coco.
“Liv and Brooke were two factors to our starting lineup, but I think we added a good five players who can fill that role,” Anderson said. “We have about seven freshmen on our varsity squad. Size wise and skill wise I think they can compete at this level. Now that we’ve put them all together, it seems like we mesh really well.”
Miller is the veteran who will play at Villanova University next year while entering the biomedical field. Currently, she’s a member of National Honors Society, Spanish Honors Society, a peer leadership group and an ambassador’s club at school. She also played lacrosse for two years at Paul VI before focusing on soccer.
Miller enjoys the toughest challenges possible both on and off the field. That’s why she chose to study medicine at Villanova.
“[My parents] know that I am capable of a lot academically, so they just want me to go somewhere where I’ll be successful,” Miller said. “They don’t care which track I end up going; they just want me to be happy with whichever one I pick.”
Anderson is certainly glad Miller chose to play defense, even if it meant perhaps being undervalued in the eyes of others.
“It’s hard to get a defensive player on people’s radars because they look at the goal scorers … and forget about the ones who save the goals and help our defense,” Anderson said. “She leveled everybody out and made everybody comfortable, calm and confident. At the end of the day, she came up very big for us.”
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