Sisters Niki, Jordan Miles Converge on Evanston for Final NCAA Season

EVANSTON, Ill. — As Niki Miles made her way off the Martin Stadium turf following Penn’s 20-7 NCAA tournament quarterfinal loss to Northwestern on May 16, the attacker reached an intersection of her respective collegiate chapters.

With her Ivy League eligibility exhausted, Miles looked to join a squad fit to contend for a national championship as a graduate transfer. She — and former Quaker defender Grace Fujinaga — landed with the Wildcats, and their knockout clash provided a precursor of their new home.

“It’s extremely full circle; that was a pretty interesting game,” Miles said. “Grace was in a similar position, knowing we were coming here next year. But I really just tried to give 100 percent of my effort for my Penn teammates who I love and finish strong.”

Long before she bookended her career with Penn as the program’s single-season goals (63 in 2023) and draw controls (119 in 2024) record-holder, Miles tuned into a Northwestern game on television.

She watched Samantha and Madison Smith compete side-by-side in the draw circle and immediately thought of her younger sister, Jordan Miles — then a junior attacker at High Point. Niki said her ability as a dodger goes hand-in-hand with Jordan’s cutting savvy.

“I was watching the Smith sisters play together and how much fun it looked like they were having,” Miles said. “I was like, ‘I wonder if Jordy would ever transfer?’ Just knowing how talented she is and how fun it is when we play together with our different skill sets coming together on the attack, it would be an extremely special opportunity.”

The elder Miles sister kept the idea between herself and her father, Glen Miles, letting Jordan wrap up a banner third season with the Panthers. Once her 54-goal, nine-assist campaign ended with a 16-12 Big South championship defeat against Mercer, Niki made her pitch in a family meeting.

For Jordan, who had developed into the centerpiece of High Point coach Lindsey Boswell’s attack, the decision proved one of the most difficult choices she’d ever had to reckon with. Ultimately, the chance to team up with Niki for the first time since her sophomore year at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School (Calif.) was far too golden to pass up.

“I loved my time at High Point, but I wanted to pursue the opportunity to play with Niki and play at the best school in the country,” she said. “It just felt like something I couldn’t turn away from.”

After informing Boswell of her intentions to test the portal’s waters with a lone destination in mind, she signed with the Wildcats for her final college season. She and her sister are part of Northwestern’s largest transfer class in the portal era, which includes former Maryland midfielder Jaylen Rosga, former Harvard attacker Grace Campbell and Fujinaga.

ALTHOUGH THE MILES SISTERS spent the bulk of their childhood in an untraditional lacrosse area of California, their father — a USA Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee and three-time All-American midfielder at Navy — put sticks in their hands early.

“He’s the ultimate supporter,” Niki Miles said. “He played at such a high level and is so competitive, and that’s where we got that from. … It’s something that really connects us as a family and part of why we love lacrosse so much.”

In addition to his decorated lacrosse career, Glen Miles served as a Marine fighter pilot, having graduated from TOPGUN in 1996. His daughters credit him as the most influential figure in their respective lacrosse journeys.

“It has shaped our whole lacrosse career,” Jordan Miles said. “He has been our coach our whole life and taught us pretty much everything we knew up until college. … It just means the world to us.”

While Glen Miles’ time coaching his eldest daughters ended once Jordan went off to college, he sends them both emails ahead of every game. It’s a tradition he began during Niki Miles’ COVID-shortened freshman season in 2020.

Glen Miles said he gives a few pointers based on the opposition, but it’s mainly a mechanism to instill confidence in his daughters.

“We have a sense of what might be required — not only from the who they’re playing perspective, but for their own mindset,” Glen Miles said. “I just try to give them a little encouragement for that particular game. They’re both very different, so it’s not one-size fits all.”

Several years after the Miles family moved across the country from California to Maryland, the sisters connected with Baltimore-based trainer P.J. Quarrie. A former college running back at Bowie State, Quarrie entered the lacrosse sphere with another family filled with lacrosse talent.

Jacob Kelly — a former Georgetown and North Carolina attackman and the son of longtime Calvert Hall boys’ lacrosse coach Bryan Kelly — approached Quarrie and asked to be trained like a football player. From there, Quarrie worked with several of Jacob’s younger brothers, Maryland’s Daniel Kelly and Georgetown’s Shuey Kelly, and their cousin in Denver, midfielder Mic Kelly.

“It’s not a typical lacrosse training where we’re just working with the stick, passing the ball back and forth and shooting,” Quarrie said. “It really enhances athletic ability and changes the style. … If you have a girl moving that has that demeanor, that wiggle and that deception with stick skills, that’s a scary sight.”

Niki and Jordan’s younger sister, Taylor, an incoming freshman attacker at Navy, first worked with Quarrie before recommending the trainer to her older sisters.

All three regularly work with Quarrie during breaks from school, when they fine-tune their dodging and athleticism.

“They’re gonna come in and empty the tank every single session,” Quarrie said. “I try to challenge them mentally, so I put them through sleds and things they might not see at school. Whatever I throw at them, they’re gonna accept it.”

As Niki and Jordan prepared for their first fall ball with a Big Ten team, Quarrie put them through a speed program and focused on creating space and beating defenders. He said the jump in conferences from the Big South and Ivy League shouldn’t come as a shock to the system for either sister.

WITH LONGTIME ATTACKING STARS Izzy Scane, Erin Coykendall and Dylan Amonte all graduating this past summer, the Wildcats have spots up for grabs.

Northwestern assistant coach Scott Hiller said Scane, Coykendall and Amonte all functioned as coaches on the field. Hiller said the team has embraced its “new era” during fall practices. He added that while the Wildcats don’t have a set depth chart, players are moving up and down in the rotation daily.

“I keep comparing it to one of those Kentucky Derby horse races where there’s 30 horses at the start, and they all just go running,” Hiller said. “Everyone’s out there competing, and there’s no set spots. [Junior attacker] Maddy Taylor, obviously she’s going to be playing. But other than that, it’s pretty wide open.”

Hiller and head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller knew well before the offseason that the departing class required considerable moves in the portal in addition to their typical high school recruiting. They looked for players who’d been leaders at their previous stops, which would help develop their younger talent crop.

A multi-year captain at Penn, Niki Miles swiftly became a high-profile target. The coaching staff kept tabs on her during her high school career in California, but her progression with the Quakers jumped off the page.

“Every year, she got better, and that’s something we look for in recruits to continue to demonstrate that upside,” Hiller said. “She was kind of the key to our recruiting class, especially when it comes to leadership. [She’s] someone we thought was going to come in and really help us with some of the younger kids, lead and just be a good person. She’s got exceptional traits.”

Jordan Miles emerged on Northwestern’s radar later in the process, but Hiller marveled at a similar progression she displayed at High Point, elevating her role from sporadic playing time as a freshman to the Panthers’ leading scorer in 2024. He said she was a “big fish” at High Point and displayed significant self-belief in her move to the eight-time national champions.

While they’re both battling for playing time, the sisters said they’ve cherished every moment playing together this fall.

“We were both talking about our first few weeks of practice how every day we feel like we’re learning so much about lacrosse, even though we’ve played our whole lives,” Jordan Miles said. “We’re just taking in everything they have to say because the coaching has been awesome.”

From living nearly 500 miles apart during the past three seasons to now being roommates, Niki and Jordan said they’ve drawn inspiration from watching each other put in the work.

This season will mark a milestone neither Miles sister could’ve fathomed when their time as high school teammates culminated in a CIF Southern Sectional Championship more than five years ago, but it’s a moment they’re ready to seize.

“It’s surreal, and I think we’re just trying to take it day-by-day and really enjoy the moment because it’ll be over before we realize it,” Niki Miles said. “So, [we’re] just being present, enjoying the little stuff, the time in the locker room, being roommates and even just the little plays within a scrimmage — just having fun with each other and really loving each other.”