People always seem to keep track of when Kathleen Miller loses. It just seemed inevitable that all the St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes standout would ever do was win.
The Princeton senior attacker lost in the NCAA final as a freshman and hasn’t gotten past the NCAA quarterfinals the past two seasons. A defeat in their penultimate regular season game at Maryland could keep the Tigers out of the NCAA tournament for the first time in 10 seasons.
“It definitely is a new situation for the whole team,” said Miller. “Especially for the seniors, considering we came in as freshman absolutely uncontested without a loss.”
In 2003, Miller led the Saints to an undefeated season and an Independent Schools League title. She also was named the nation’s high school best player, led the U.S. under-19 team to a world championship and was named most valuable player in the title game, then she joined Princeton, which was coming off back-to-back national titles.
But in each season since, it’s gotten progressively tougher for the Tigers (9-5), who struggled to find a complete game earlier this spring, suffering four losses in their first eight games by a total of six goals.
Miller knows she’s partly to blame. With 36 goals and 15 assists this spring, she’s likely to finish her career among the Tigers’ top five all-time goal-scorers, but she scored only once in defeats against Penn State, Virginia and Yale.
“I’ve said all along that Miller is our X factor,” said Tigers head coach Chris Sailer. “When she plays well, we win, and she didn’t have her best games. She played well at Duke, but in the other games, they were not her best games.”
Miller has responded with 15 goals in Princeton’s last five games, and she hopes to draw from a Tigers win over the Terrapins that she watched from the stands four years ago when the two teams meet tonight.
“The way we’ve been looking at it is, look at the 2003 championship team,” said Miller. “They didn’t have an ideal season, everyone had given up on them, and I think it was the Maryland game in their season that they really used to slap everyone in the face and say, ‘You know, we’re not done yet.’ I think that gives us a bit of motivation.”
No. 13 Princeton (9-5) at No. 5 Maryland (14-3)
» When: Tonight, 7
