Miller scores crucial goal and keeps clean sheet

Watching Nolan Miller bring down a 40-yard long ball with his chest before burying it into the side netting would make an unsuspecting onlooker think he was the Michigan men’s soccer team’s top goalscorer.

As it turns out, the junior center back hadn’t scored since October 2022. Miller emphatically ended his hiatus this Friday, scoring the game’s opening goal in a 2-0 win over Detroit Mercy on senior night.

“Whenever the ball is on (graduate forward Beto Soto’s) left foot, you know to make the run,” Miller said. “I ended up taking it down well. And I’m happy because I had a year’s break from goals. I didn’t get any last year when I probably should have. Hopefully it’s one of many this year.”

Miller had almost 23 months to prepare for this moment. Not a single second was wasted. 

When Soto scanned the field, he was lucky to see Miller still in the box from a prior set piece. The delivery came in from Soto, and two touches from Miller was all it took before the Detroit goalkeeper was picking the ball out of his own net — one to cushion it with his chest and another to slot it far post with the inside of his right boot. Composure personified.

“I felt comfortable when I was one-on-one,” Miller said. “I’ve been practicing it. We always mess around with the guys and try to be a striker.”

On top of his offensive contribution, Miller captained the team to its third clean sheet of the season. While it was a night to celebrate the seniors, Miller stepped up to lead as one of the most experienced members of the squad despite only being a junior.

“We started talking about (Miller’s captainship) when he was a sophomore,” Michigan coach Chaka Daley said. “We started talking about developing leadership because he does things really well, and now he’s spreading his wings, putting people underneath his wings and bringing people along with him. That’s what real leadership is. ‘How do you make others around you better?’ ”

A goal is the hardest and most important thing to do in a match, but a center back’s job is to defend first. Thanks to Miller’s collection of defensive headers and crunching tackles to break up the Detroit counter, he achieved both to guide the Wolverines to victory.

“He’s been aerially very dominant, he’s led the line really well, he’s been strong and he’s organized everything around him,” Daley said. “If you can do all those things, all the other stuff is extra. We’re fortunate that his ‘extra’ was really nice tonight.”

Defending the lead after doubling the score, Michigan found itself pinned back in a sea of long balls and crosses. Miller thwarted chance after chance, rising above the Titans’ forwards to head the ball to safety. His Friday performance proved Miller to be a warrior who rides for his team until the wheels fall off, which they eventually did. With 19 minutes left on the clock, Miller’s night came to an end after sustaining a minor injury. 

But the Michigan captain’s “extra” was enough to see the Wolverines through to the final whistle. With his efforts on both sides of the pitch, Miller put the cherry on top of Michigan’s unbeaten non-conference play.

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