By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
KOKOMO – Saturday was a great day to be a Miller.
With a chance to become only the fifth school in IHSAA history to compete in both the boys and girls soccer state finals in the same year, the Noblesville Millers completed the sweep, winning both Class 3A semi-state titles in Kokomo.
The reigning 3A boys state champion and seventh-ranked Millers kicked off the 2-for-2 performance by eliminating No. 15 Penn, 3-2, to claim the program’s second straight semi-state championship and third overall. They will next face No. 4 Columbus North in the state finals at IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium in Indianapolis at 1:30 p.m. next Saturday.
The No. 1 nationally-ranked Noblesville girls team captured its third semi-state title in four years with a dominating 7-0 win over No. 12 Crown Point, putting itself in position for a potential third state crown since 2019.
The Millers’ girls will contend with No. 3 Carmel (18-2-2), which is ranked second in the nation, according to MaxPreps, in the state finals. That game will start at 4 p.m. next Saturday, following the 3A boys game.
“You’re going to get the best of the best in Hamilton County in any sport really,” Noblesville sophomore Meredith Tippner said after the Millers won their 10th straight game. “I think it’s great we’ve been able to compete against all these great teams, but to end it with (Carmel), I love it.”
The Millers girls (19-1) prepared for their upcoming challenge by putting on an offensive display against the overmatched Crown Point Bulldogs (17-5-1).
Tippner had four goals overall and posted a hat trick within the first 24 minutes. Her first goal came off a header on a one-timer assist from senior Ava Bramblett in the sixth minute.
Her second was assisted, once again, by Bramblett in the 18th minute while in transition, marking the Millers’ second goal in four shots on goal and five shots total to that point.
Her third was assisted by Atley Pittman to put the Millers ahead 3-0 in the 24th minute.
“She plays possessed, but they work so well off each other. Tonight, it was Meredith’s turn. Who knows who it will be next weekend? As long as Meredith is involved, we know we’re going to have good opportunities around the goal,” Noblesville head coach Mike Brady said. “Tonight, she just finished every one she had.”
Tippner made it 6-0 in the Millers favor in the 38th minute, taking a corner-kick assist from Victoria Goodwin and turning it into her 15th goal on the season.
“We’re a team that doesn’t want to force anything. We feel how it’s going to go, and once we get that first goal and it starts to click, that’s when you see one, two, three goals pile up pretty quickly for us,” Tippner said.
Noblesville’s Meredith Tippner scored four goals for the Millers girls team as it beat Crown Point 7-0 at the Kokomo semi-state on Saturday. Noblesville will play Carmel next Saturday for the Class 3A title. (Kent Graham)
Pittman scored a goal in the 28th minute off an assist from Mia Brake to make it 4-0. A goal by Bramblett assisted by Tippner pushed the margin to 5-0 in the 36th minute and launched the IHSAA mercy-rule running clock.
Stella Scroggin supplied the final goal in the 43rd minute, marking the most goals score by the Millers this season. Noblesville’s shutout was its 15th on the year.
The Millers defeated Carmel during the regular season, 3-1, at home on Sept. 19, but coach Brady and his team aren’t predicting anything easy against the 10-time state champion Greyhounds and head coach Frank Dixon, who has the most state titles of any girls coach in IHSAA history.
“I’m expecting a battle between two heavyweights. Our earlier result was five weeks ago. That doesn’t carry over. That’s a really good soccer program. They’re very well coached. They have good players. We’re a mediocre coach with good players, so it’s going to be a battle,” Brady said.
The Miller boys (15-3-3) established a 2-0 lead over Penn (13-5-4) early on during their semi-state game, but it was a clutch second-half goal by senior Pavlos Michaeloff that broke up a 2-2 tie and propelled Noblesville back to the state finals.
Michaeloff, who subbed in for senior Jake Johns after a brief exit due to injury, came through in the 72rd minute taking a Samuel Divis assist and turning it into the go-ahead goal.
“There was so much energy in warm ups, especially going from practice yesterday until kickoff today. I had a really good feeling about today,” Michaeloff said. “Playing difficult teams, we like that. It shows other people that we’re not a team to be messed with. Beating strong teams gives us power.”
Samuel Holland fueled the Millers in the 12th minute with a goal off an assist from Blake Horn. A Landon Huber goal in the 13th minute was assisted by Holland and made it 2-0.
“Besides the cardiac (shootout) game in the game that was Carroll (in the regional final), we’ve been the team usually going up first,” Noblesville head coach Ken Dollaske said. “It’s always good to play ahead. It stinks letting them tie it, but that just showed our resolve that less than a couple minutes later, we were back up.”
Less than a minute to be exact. A goal by Carter Utz on an assist from Noe Ferreira in the 15th minute cut the Millers’ lead 2-1 before Ferreira knocked in the equalizer with 7:51 remaining in the second half.
Michaeloff erased the stalemate 38 seconds later.
“Not a single senior got cut this year, which I’m glad because a lot of these guys, I’m real close friends with,” Michaeloff said. “It feels good to get another chance to repeat.”
If both Millers teams win state, it will be only the third time a boys and a girls team from the same school have won in the year. Evansville Memorial achieved the feat twice in 2008 and 2017.
“I have a lot of friends playing on the girls team, too, so it would be so nice to win with them,” Michaeloff said.
“I have a brother on the boys team and we’ve been close to that group of boys on the team forever. I’m so happy we were both able to make it this far and play at IUPUI, in a big stadium, we’ll see what we can do,” Tippner added.
Carmel girls win at Seymour
The Carmel girls won the Class 3A south semi-state by beating Center Grove 1-0 at Seymour on Saturday to qualify for the state championship for the second consecutive year.
Freshman Adalyn Cameron scored the Greyhounds’ goal in the 31st minute, scoring off a Megan Hamm corner kick. Carmel outshot the Trojans 12-1 in the first half. Center Grove got off five shots in the second half, but Greyhounds goalkeeper Aubree Empie made several big saves on corner and free kicks.
Carmel improved to 18-2-2 for the season and will take on Noblesville in the Class 3A state championship on Saturday.