Like thousands of college students this spring, Naperville native Brooke Miller is exploring her career options as she prepares to walk across the graduation stage at Northwestern University next month. But unlike most, Miller’s next step in her journey could be a pro sports career. This Where Are They Now segment is presented by Grow Sports Psychology.
A chance at a pro soccer career
“I’m hoping to play professional soccer overseas. I have an agent right now, and you know, he’s looking for teams that need a center back like me. The window, because I’m graduating in the middle of June, the window that I’m hoping to join in the leagues over there would be in the summer,” said Neuqua Valley grad, Brooke Miller. “So July, end of June, that’s when I’ll know. And then as soon as I find out what country or what team I’m going to play in, I’ll fly over there and get started on the next season.”
She’s got the grit and the background to give her a good shot. Miller grew up playing soccer in Naperville, competing at the club level for Team Chicago, and eventually became a varsity standout at Neuqua Valley. She developed a passion for sports from her parents, especially her mother, Joy, who played soccer at Downers Grove South.
A love for soccer turns into a star-making prep career
“I think just my parents are very athletic people, and my family loves to stay active. From a young age, they’re just like, let’s get her into sports. And my mom played soccer. So I just ended up playing soccer. And then the more I played it, the more I liked it, the more I got better at it, and I wanted to continue,” said Miller.
Miller helped the Neuqua Wildcats win back-to-back regional championships in 2021 and 2022. In her senior season, she was named the Illinois Girls Soccer Gatorade Player of the Year after scoring 15 goals and 11 assists.
She credits a lot of her prep success to playing under legendary head coach Joe Moreau, who retired following Brooke’s senior year, as well as top Wildcat assistant Sue Soderberg.
“I loved being a player under him as a coach. Every single year was like crossing my fingers, hoping he would stay until I got to leave selfishly. So I wanted him to stay until I had to go,” said Miller. “He really cared about the girls, really cared about our team. No matter what the game looked like before, he wanted us to keep working so that we could put our heads down and get better for the next day. He always counted on us working our hardest, being at our best, and when the level wasn’t as good, or the effort wasn’t as good, he would make sure things turned around,” said Miller.
A standout in the classroom as well, Miller went on to play collegiately at Northwestern. A goal scorer for Neuqua Valley, in college, she moved to the defensive side of the ball, playing wherever her coaches needed her.
As a senior this fall, Miller was named a team captain and played center back, helping the Northwestern defense record 10 shutouts over the course of the year. Miller was named second team All-Big Ten, and the Cats returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2022, eventually falling to Alabama via penalty kicks, a heartbreaking finish to a memorable year on the pitch.
“I think most importantly for our team, we lived up to our standards this year, which was really big for us. And then near the end of the season, we really got into a flow of things. Things were falling, like coming together. We were scoring, we were stopping goals. We were playing well against good competition. And so I was really happy with that. I think especially the last game, we gave it all of our heart, we gave all of our heart and all of the games prior to that as well, so I couldn’t be more proud of how we ended up performing,” said Miller.
An interest in journalism when soccer comes to an end
Along with her push to continue playing professionally, Miller has also been working hard on what her post-soccer career will be once she hangs up the cleats for good. She’s gotten a good head start by studying at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, which led to an internship at WBEZ in Chicago.
“Doing that internship was cool because I actually got to experience what it’s like to work a real job in journalism. And yeah, the everyday tasks, reporting the news, writing scripts, editing audio, all of that. I enjoyed it, and I really can’t see myself hopping into another industry besides journalism, so that was cool to get that experience and confirmed that it’s what I want to do after soccer,” said Miller.
As she looks to the future, Miller believes in dreaming big and putting in the work.
“If you have a really big dream, I think you should definitely pursue it. Never let anybody tell you that you can’t,” said Miller. “You’ve got to back yourself. If there are people who are doubting you, you really have to believe in yourself. Rely on those who are your support system around you. My parents never doubted me. My friends never did. But with that. Be realistic about what it takes to get there. Be realistic about how much you have to train, the things that you might have to miss, social plans that you might just not get to go to. Be realistic about what it takes, and then just do the work. If you have to train two times a day to get to the level that you need to be at to play in college, and that’s what you have to do. And when you start combining the discipline with your big dreams, there’s no doubt in my mind that people who believe in themselves and do the work and can make anything happen.”
For more prep sports stories and highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page.
