From opposite sides, Millers embrace Pickerington lacrosse rivalry
Having emerged as the Pickerington Central girls lacrosse team's top offensive threat this season, Brooklyn Miller has seen her share of double- and tripleteams from opposing defenses.
The senior attacker even has had games in which she has been knocked down several times.
Miller figured that would come with the territory, but hearing the defensive game plan directly from an opposing coach earlier this year still was rare. That's because that coach is from the Tigers' biggest rival, Pickerington North, and is her mother, Christine.
“We're so competitive,” Brooklyn said. “During North week, she was watching film and told me, ‘We're double-teaming you.' I know they had to do that and I'm sure part of that was to get in my head. They needed to shut me down.
“It was awkward, but it was so much fun. It's nice to have something so much in common with my mom.”
As Brooklyn is wrapping up the high school portion of a career that will continue next year at Seton Hill, Christine is in her fifth season guiding the Panthers. With many overlapping practices and game nights, time together during the spring is limited, but conversation often includes bouncing ideas off each other as well as scouting reports involving teams one of them has faced and the other will see.
Brooklyn had 46 goals, 15 assists, 44 draw controls, 50 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers through 13 games, and the Tigers are 9-4-1 overall and 3-1 in the OCC-OHIO Division.
North is 7-6 overall and 1-2 in the league.
Brooklyn went 3-0 against North, including a 12-5 win April 5 in which she scored four goals.
“I always want her to do well and she wants us to do well. Still, it's a competitive game,” said Christine, who shared a prolonged hug with her daughter during pregame introductions that night. “A lot of their seniors are like family to us. We've known them since they were kids. It can be tough going against them.”
Christine's husband and Brooklyn's father, Sam, films Central's games and attends as many of North's as possible. Younger daughter Hayden, a freshman, open-enrolled at North and will play for her mother next year.
District rules dictate that students who enroll at a school outside their attendance zone must sit out a year of athletics.
Christine played at Dublin and on the University of Dayton's club team. She went 33-18 as Central's coach from 201214 and, not necessarily by plan, returned to the high school game weeks before the 2017 season when North was in need of a coach.
In the meantime, she coached in the Pickerington Youth Athletic Association and became girls director of the Laxcats youth program, a position she still holds.
“We didn't want the (North) program to fold," Christine said. "It's about getting sticks in hands and girls playing lacrosse and growing the game in our community. It was supposed to be a short-term gig but things have worked out. Brooklyn and I agreed that I needed to coach and she needed to play.”
In the meantime, Brooklyn became a four-year starter for the girls soccer team and evolved from a more defensiveminded player in lacrosse into one of the Tigers' offensive leaders.
She earned more of the spotlight upon the graduation of Grace Osborn, who scored a program-record 107 goals last year and now is starring as a freshman at Capital.
“Once (Brooklyn) had the opportunity to kind of be the alpha, so to speak, of our offense, she welcomed that role,” Central coach Brian Walton said. “She's our best scoring threat right now, but she's one of the best girls driving the ball, which makes her hard to defend. She also has excellent vision.”