Miller's Time
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — She was team MVP her senior year at Butler and was MVP of the WPIAL All-Star Game.
A number of colleges — Edinboro, Robert Morris, Slippery Rock and Gannon among them — were after her services as a soccer goalkeeper.
But for Hannah Miller, the choice was clear.
She headed up to Nazareth College, a Division III school in Rochester, N.Y., and — so far, anyway — has lived happily ever after.
“I wanted to major in physical therapy and the program here is the best. That was enough for me to come right there,” Miller said.
“But it's been a perfect fit for me all the way around. This school has provided me good social, academic and athletic opportunities.”
And she's taken advantage of all three.
Miller is majoring in physical therapy at Nazareth and carries a 3.9 grade point average, including a 4.0 in her last semester. She was selected to the United Soccer Coaches Division III Women's Scholar All-East Region Team.
She started all 18 of the Golden Flyers games this past season, compiling a 9-5-4 record, 0.82 goals-against average, a .901 save percentage and seven shutouts. That was good enough to earn her D3soccer.com second team All-American honors.
“Hannah is a special person who genuinely aims to be successful every single day, academically and athletically,” Nazareth coach Gail Mann said. “We graduated 10 seniors from the previous year and they were all starters.
“Hannah was our only returning starter. She was a great leader. Her work ethic is outstanding.”
Only a junior this year, Miller will return next fall for her third season as the Golden Flyers' starting netminder. She had a 0.67 GAA and eight shutouts as a sophomore, helping her team post a 12-4-2 record.
Miller was named All-Region and the Empire 8 Conference Defensive Player of the Year her junior season.
Nazareth has put together 25 consecutive winning seasons under Mann. That includes nine Empire 8 championships and seven NCAA Division III tournament appearances since 2001.
“We win because we all play for each other,” Miller said. “There are no individuals on this team. We all love and support each other. My teammates are my best friends and will be that way for the rest of my life.”
“We didn't get to where we wanted to go last year,” Mann said. “But now we have all of these young players back and Hannah, I believe, will have her best season yet.”
As good as Miller's been, she succeeded school-record holder Brayden Dobles in goal at Nazareth. Dobles holds Golden Flyer records for single-season and career shutouts (12, 27), single-season and career save percentage (.929, .899).
She was a senior when Miller was a freshman.
“I knew the caliber of player I was replacing and I wanted to live up to that,” Miller said. “It's important to me to live up to the success that's happened beffore me.”
Nazareth has a goalkeeper coach — Billy Stojanovski — who was a Division I goalkeeper at the University of Buffalo. He has been on staff at Nazareth for 18 years.“This isn't his full-time job, but he loves it,” Mann said. “We've had a number of outstanding goalies through the years and Billy's a big reason for that. He works with our goalkeepers every day.“I'm sure Hannah wasn't accustomed to that (specialized) coaching before she got here and I know she's benefitted from it.”She's benefitted from her size as well. Miller stands nearly six feet tall.“She's tall, has long arms and is athletic,” Mann said. “Hannah is excellent in covering crosses and high balls. She gets to shots other keepers just don't get to.“She made one save this past year that was absolutely jaw-dropping. It was a sure goal. I still have no idea how she stopped it.”Miller said she's always been “a head taller” than other girls growing up.“I started playing soccer when I was 5. When I was 8 — the first year we put a goalie in — my uncle was our coach. He put me and my cousin in goal.“I grew to love the position. I've never left it.”All she wants to do now is win.“The individual stuff is nice, but my goal is to win the conference, get the automatic bid to the national tournament,” Miller said. “We got there my freshman year.“Getting there my senior year would be a great way to book-end my career.”
