Northwestern University Athletics
Brooke Miller Forges Crucial Defensive Role in NU’s 2025 Resurgence
11/7/2025 9:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Brooke Miller and her fellow captains began outlining their vision for the 2025 season long before Northwestern's women's soccer players reported to campus in July.
"We wanted to make the postseason," Miller said. "But overall, we just really wanted to play to the best of our abilities. A really big goal was to mesh as a team this year, play the style we wanted to and get everybody involved to play a part."
During her sophomore and junior years, the Wildcats missed out on Big Ten Tournament qualification. After the 2023 season, five-year defensive starter Danika Austin graduated out of the program. The following year, Emma Phillips — a four-year starter at center back — exhausted her collegiate eligibility and turned professional.
Miller, who filled various roles in her first three seasons at Northwestern, knew the coaching staff counted on her to shift into a full-time defensive position ahead of her senior year.
"Going into that role in the back line, I really wanted to be good with communication and making sure we were doing everything we could do to control [play] the right way," Miller said. "We already had the components of good defending, good technical ability."
Miller sensed a palpable shift at the commencement of winter workouts. With the season almost a year away, she and her teammates trained with a competitive fire Miller hadn't seen since her first-year campaign in 2022.
That intensity quickly captured head coach Michael Moynihan's attention.
"Sometimes there's a tendency to approach the offseason like, 'Oh, we got time,'" Moynihan said. "They really got after it. They were still very hungry. Last year, we were close in so many games, played really good soccer and were highly respected in the conference. There was a feeling like, 'We're not that far off. We believe in what we're doing. We're just gonna push harder."
Now, Miller helped engineer Northwestern's first Big Ten Tournament appearance since the 2022 season. She has started all 20 games at center back as the Wildcats fortified the conference's No. 4 scoring defense, conceding just 0.75 goals per game.
Northwestern, the No. 32 team in the NCAA DI Women's Soccer RPI, is just steps away from actualizing its captains' postseason mission as the Wildcats will learn their NCAA Tournament fate at 3 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10 on NCAA.com.
"We'll say before games, 'We've been working for this for about two years,'" Miller said. "That's how long ago it started — when we started to put all our effort into building up to this season."
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Moynihan and Miller first crossed paths at Northwestern youth camps early in the defender's soccer career. A Naperville, Ill., native, Miller rose to prominence at the local high school and club levels.
"She was somebody we had interest in from a very young age because she was in front of us so much," Moynihan said. "One of the things that stood out was that she was always eager to learn. She was very receptive to coaching, just had a good energy about her."
For Miller, Moynihan delivered a simple, yet powerful message on the recruiting trail. She said it wasn't a mere pitch, instead forming the fundamental program pillars that forge success on and off the pitch.
"Michael always says he wants to make us better people from Day 1," Miller said. "That really spoke to me because he really does care about us as people as well as players. You can just feel that backing when you go out on the field or go out to practice."
In August 2021, Miller verbally committed to the Wildcats. But her statewide stardom soared months later when she earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors in Illinois after shifting into the midfield and recording 15 goals and 11 assists as a senior at Neuqua Valley High School.
Such positional versatility piqued Moynihan's interest, and it facilitated Miller's minutes early in her Northwestern career. Miller played at every spot on the backline and logged time in the midfield as she looked to carve out a sustained on-field role with the 'Cats.
"It stems from her time as a youth player," Moynihan said. "Her club team needed her to fill a number of different roles. They needed a goal, they'd move her up top. If they needed to protect the lead, they'd move her in the back. She developed a lot of flexibility, and we felt one of her biggest strengths was her ability to play multiple positions."
As she bided her time as one of the team's youngest contributors in 2022, Miller learned the standard for sustained success in the Big Ten and the collective buy-in necessary to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.
Miller saw similar signals emerge in early 2025.
"Everybody on this team is super bought-in," Miller said. "You can feel it. The belief is definitely there. That's something we saw in the 2022 team. I don't think we ever — not once — didn't believe in ourselves. We were ready to compete against anybody and take on any opponent, no matter who it was. That's something similar that we've found this year."
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Throughout the offseason, Miller and junior defender Maddie Finnerty knew they'd be playing together in the backline. Finnerty had long admired Miller's game as the pair went from competing for playing time to filling separate roles before lining up together on defense.
"She just puts her body on the line for every play, every tackle, without hesitation," Finnerty said. "It starts with her, and it's so inspiring to see. She's just such a great leader."
Miller and Finnerty built up significant chemistry and trust — but had done so in a three-back system.
The coaching staff shifted tactics ahead of Northwestern's Aug. 31 non-conference match against Butler. Moynihan deployed a four-defender system, shifting Miller and Finnerty into the two center back roles in the back four.
"I hadn't done it since high school, and she hadn't played in the middle of a four-back since before she came here," Finnerty said. "It took a lot of communication and watching film. We really got close off the field and took the time to realize what it looks like to set the team up for success from the back."
The plan went off without a hitch in a 1-0 victory, but a daunting challenge awaited the Wildcats in Fort Worth, Texas.
There, Northwestern matched up with then-No. 4 TCU in a venue where the Horned Frogs hadn't lost since August 2023. The game marked a major test for the new-look Wildcat defensive system, but Miller said she and her teammates carried a quiet confidence into Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium.
"We went into that game believing we were going to come out with a win," Miller said. "We realized that when we won that game, everybody else would be surprised. But we wouldn't be."
Miller played the full 90 minutes as the Wildcats knocked off TCU 1-0. The result marked Northwestern's first regular-season win against a top five opponent since 2010. For her efforts in keeping the shutout, Miller earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors.
The monumental win proved just the start of a remarkable turnaround in 2025, with the 'Cats exceeding their combined conference win totals from 2023 and 2024. Tabbed to finish 15th in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll, Northwestern tied for sixth in one of the nation's preeminent conferences.
"We didn't want to peak at the beginning of the season," Miller said. "We knew it was going to be a super long season. As long as we kept learning, we were going to be fine in the end. Teams change so much from the beginning of the season to the end. We took every bit of information to propel us to where we are today."
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Miller tries not to think about the finality of it all.
But the reality is cruel, yet exhilarating for a natural competitor like the senior defender. From this point on, it's win or go home for the Wildcats. Miller said regardless of the season's ultimate outcome, she's lived out a dream these past four seasons of playing Big Ten soccer so close to home.
"I'm super competitive and to do something at the top level is something I've always wanted," Miller said. "But being close to home, my parents are able to come to almost every single one of my games. They're my number one supporters. When I'm going into the game and I feel a lot of pressure, I know my parents are watching me on the sidelines and supporting me after."
For Finnerty, the prospect of departing leadership such as Miller, senior midfielder Caterina Regazzoni and graduate student midfielder Kelsey Kwon presents a demanding task.
Finnerty said her center back partner has left an enduring mark on the program.
"You don't meet a lot of people like her in your life," Finnerty said. "She just goes at everything with such a positive mindset. I'm so thankful for her because she's taught me so much about soccer and helped me in this transition so much. She takes the time to get to know every person on the team, checks in with them all the time. She's phenomenal on and off the field."
While Miller helped scheme a postseason bid months before the summer's first kick of a soccer ball sounded a familiar tune of preseason preparation, Miller's athletic plans beyond the NCAA Tournament are less drawn out.
Miller said she carries tremendous gratitude for soccer and her time in the Northwestern program. She added that she won't take a second of the season's final weeks for granted.
"I've been playing soccer for basically my whole life," Miller said. "Thinking about not playing is a foreign concept to me. It makes me super emotional to think about. This sport has given me so many things: my closest friends, companionship, learning responsibility, becoming the person I am today."
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— Northwestern Soccer (@NUWSoccer) November 4, 2025
Brooke Miller secures All-Big Ten recognition! pic.twitter.com/cy6GlhwjjC
