Last season, the Virginia women’s soccer team had one of the best defenses in the country. With a nation-best 0.40 goals allowed per game, the Cavaliers managed to pull off 14 shutouts and allowed only 10 goals all season. The great defense was thanks in part to then-freshman goalie Chantel Jones, who posted 13 shutouts and a save percentage of 0.88, which ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Hopes to continue utilizing the All-American keeper on the field were dashed, however, when Jones took this season off to play for the U.S. in the U-20 World Cup. Senior goalie Celeste Miles was next in line to start.
“Every year I know I’ll be competing [for a spot] against really great goalkeepers,” Miles said. “But I never really settled to be the backup.”
Until this year, Miles had never started in a regular-season game. In fact, in her previous three seasons with the team, she only made appearances in five games. Now, in her last year with Virginia — in a season when the Cavaliers are already recognized as one of the premier teams in the country — Miles will take her place as the go-to person between the posts.
“I’m just really excited to be able to contribute to my team on the field,” Miles said. “It’s good timing for me [in my] last year.”
Miles is not in an easy position, though; the person who held her spot previously is one of the best collegiate goalies in the country. Miles plays for a team that has set its expectations as high as they get: to win the ACC and NCAA tournaments. Moreover, Miles plays a position in sports that is proverbially known as the most stressful and least rewarding. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Miles seems confident.
“People say that the goalkeeper is the first to get the blame and the first to get the glory, as well,” Miles said. “It comes with the job. Both Chantel and I have been doing it for a while. It’s all part of the mentality.”
Miles’ play thus far this season indicates she was ready to take the job. Though Miles has not been tested in the same fashion in which she will be later in the season, when the Cavaliers face tougher opponents, she has done her job in her first three starts, posting three shutouts. Some of her success could be due to a strong back line, but her aptitude for the position is evident, as her coach articulated.
“We weren’t expecting the situation we’re in,” Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. “But I think you can’t ask for anyone better to be in that situation than Celeste. I think it’s a credit to her that she has prepared herself so well over the past three years ... She’s given everything she has, and I think she’s got the whole team behind her.”
Though Jones and Miles were competing for the same position last year, the two have always maintained a strong, positive relationship. Despite the fact that Jones doesn’t appear in games, she still shows up to cheer on the team and even to warm up Miles before the game starts, just as Miles assisted Jones the year before.
“When Chantel came in, my role was helping to prepare her for each game,” Miles said. “Now the role is kind of reversed. When she got the starting role, I was her biggest fan. Now that I’m in there, she’s my biggest fan.”
Swanson noted Miles’ patience in waiting for her time to come.
“She’s never complained once, never worked any less on the training field,” Swanson said.
Miles said she has come into every season knowing she likely was not the first pick to start. For someone who has worked hard in practice with only team success as her goal, while taking a backseat in playing time and accolades for three years, Miles’ time has finally arrived, and her excitement at this opportunity is contagious for the entire squad.
Miles “has been remarkably consistent,” Swanson said. “She’s capable of making the big saves. The big thing is — does the coaching staff and does the team have confidence in her? Absolutely, and she’s earned that, so she deserves all the credit ... I think she is the kind of kid that you can just hold up as a role model for how to train, how to be a great student athlete and how to be prepared for when your time comes.”
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