W. Soccer's Newest Shooting Star: Freshman Naomi Miller

Some athletes do their work subtly, unnoticed. A tough, skilled offensive lineman comes to mind.

Others are more flashy and draw attention to themselves. Deion Sanders is a difficult player not to watch.

Similarly, it is very hard to take your eyes off of freshman Naomi Miller when she is in possession of the soccer ball.

Miller is the phenomenal freshman forward who is not only the leading freshman scorer in the Ivy League, but is simply one of the leading scorers in the league.

With nine goals and six assists, Miller has been an integral part of the Harvard offense. Her importance may best be shown by the fact that five of her goals have been game-winners for the Crimson.

However, her goal-scoring prowess has not gone to Miller's head. The soft-spoken San Antonio native gives credit where credit is due: her teammates.

"I have always played on offense, so I guess I scored a lot of goals," Miller says. "But I think this has more to do with my position than any special talents. It [scoring] comes from our whole team. The defense works really hard to keep the ball in our offensive end. Then the rest of the team just finds the open players and we put the ball in the net."

Miller's modesty sells her talent short. Her amazing ball handling skills have often embarrassed defenders and created scoring opportunities where none existed. Her talents have not gone unnoticed in the Ivy League as she has been named Rookie of the Week for the past two weeks.

Co-captain Susie Delellis also thinks that Miller is selling herself short.

"She is the fastest person on our team," Delellis says. "She is very aggressive and goal-scoring oriented. She adds a definite quality that our teams have lacked in the past: pure athleticism and strength."

Miller was attracted to the game of soccer in a unique way, especially for an American.

"I got interested in the game by watching games on television when I was about nine years old," Miller says. "I saw the way the game was played and thought it would be a really fun sport to get involved with."

Television coverage of the game has been noticeably small during the entirety of Miller's lifetime, and yet television inspired her to pick up the game.

Miller also credits her parents for supporting her and making sacrifices for her love of the game.

"They were not active as coaches, but they did support me, cheering at my games and driving me all over the place," Miller says. "When I was in high school I played on a team in Austin, which is two hours from my home in San Antonio. They would drive the two hours to take me to practice twice a week and to games on the weekend."

Harvard is thankful for Miller's decision to attend the school. Once again, the school's academic reputation attracted a top-notch athlete.

"I wanted to go to a Division One school. I was looking for academics as well as athletics in my choice. Harvard fit that bill."

Coach Tim Wheaton and last year's team also played a big part in the recruiting process.

"I thought the coach was a great guy when I came to visit," the Hurlbut resident says. "He was really cool. The team was also very good and very young last year so I knew that there was a great future for the program."

The buzz on Miller began before she ever touched a ball in a Harvard uniform.

"I knew that coach Wheaton thought she would be a definite contributor," Delellis says. "However, she surpassed all my personal expectations. She is really an incredible player."

With Miller and a strong core of freshman and sophomore players, Miller believes that the Crimson is a team of the future as well as the present.

"I think we have the skills and the personnel to continue to do great. Recruiting-wise we are getting stronger. We will lose three seniors that are important to this team, but if we can fill their positions I think we can only get better."

Miller's immediate future is looking towards the Ivy League title and hopefully an NCAA tournament berth.

"If all goes well we will win the Ivies," Miller says. "We have the skill and the desire to do so. We have a big game against UConn coming up and if we play well it should help us get into the NCAA's. If we do go to the playoffs I am sure we will do really well."

When the Crimson do take the field against UConn and Dartmouth, you can be assured that all eyes will be on Miller when she touches the ball.

However, Miller's philosophy on scoring belies her spectacular goals.

"It just happens. I don't really think about it. I don't spend every day practicing shooting...I just shoot."

Miller appears to be performing some of her fancy footwork with this quote. Delellis tells a different story on Miller's shooting skills.

"She has had two goals from 25 yards out that have hit the back of the net before the goalie even saw the ball," Delellis says with a laugh. "It was amazing. She does work on her shot, no matter what she told you. She stays after practice every day and shoots for a half-hour or so."

Mzaybe everything doesn't come naturally for Miller.