If you can’t beat them, join them.
The era of COVID-19 fifth years in spring sports is over for the most part, but not for the Ivy League. Because athletes in the conference did not compete during the 2020-21 season, they have an extra year of eligibility. However, the Ivy League does not allow graduate students to compete, forcing athletes who want to use their COVID year to transfer elsewhere.
Northwestern lacrosse is one of the programs that will benefit from Ivy League grad transfers. The ‘Cats recently gained former Penn attacker Niki Miles, who per her Instagram, will be using her final year of eligibility with The Lake Show. Miles was the 2023 Ivy League Attacker of the Year and a 2024 IWLCA Second-Team All-American, recording 50 goals, 24 assists and 119 draw controls — leading her team in both points (78) and draw controls. Her point total exceeded all Northwestern players except Izzy Scane, Erin Coykendall and Madison Taylor.
So what exactly does Miles bring to next season’s Northwestern team?
First, it’s important to reiterate that the Wildcats must create an entirely new identity next season, especially on the attack. Three of its four starting attackers from last season are gone, including Scane and Coykendall, Northwestern’s first and third all-time leading pointscorers. Without them, rising junior and 2024 NU points leader Taylor now rises to the top of opponents’ scouting reports.
Don’t cast any doubt, Taylor will still receive the most attention defensively — after all, she’s a reigning Tewaaraton Award finalist. But having Miles there will take some pressure off No. 25 and give Northwestern an extra scoring threat. Having lost eight of twelve starters, NU will be a very young team next season, so Miles’ four years of experience on the attack will be valuable too.
Specifically, Miles is phenomenal at creating her shot — especially from afar. She can beat out defenders a considerable distance from the goal, and score on the run while coming off a dodge. Here are two examples of her pulling it off against Boston College’s Sydney Scales, the 2024 IWLCA Defender of the Year, during the 2023 NCAA Tournament:
Here is an instance where Miles attempts to score an unassisted goal in transition, this time during the 2024 NCAA quarterfinals against Northwestern:
And here’s another goal that displays both Miles’s dodging and cutting ability during the same match:
These types of shots were frequently exhibited by Scane during her time at Northwestern and made her so difficult to stop. Scane’s impact as a once-in-a-lifetime player and the NCAA all-time leading goalscorer will never be fully replicated — but adding a transfer who is great at creating her shot helps fill Scane’s void. This contrasts well with Taylor’s scoring abilities, as the rising junior situates herself much closer to the goal and is best when she plays off the ball.
It will be interesting to see how Northwestern coach Kelly Amonte Hiller positions Miles and Taylor next year. Both attackers played mostly on the left side of the field last season — though Miles, often coming directly from the draw circle, played closer to the restraining line than the goal. If both players are on the left, it will contrast how Amonte Hiller situated her team’s two highest-scoring attackers last season, with Scane on the right side and Taylor on the left.
Another big question is how and if Miles will share draw duties with rising senior Samantha Smith — Northwestern’s primary draw-taker over the last two years and one of the few returning starters from last season. In 2024, Smith had 110 draw controls (nine less than Miles), but Northwestern beat Penn 19-12 on the draw when Smith and Miles faced off in the circle. It’s not unheard of for a draw-taker to be a primary attacker too, as players like two-time Tewaaraton winner Charlotte North have proven that it can be pulled off successfully. But it’s not something NU has dealt with in recent years (Smith is a midfielder), so that’s something worth keeping an eye on.
Northwestern comes into the next season with little expectation after losing so much of its roster’s production. But adding an experienced star like Miles will help it keep at least some resemblance to the national powerhouse it has been over the last five years.