All-Minnesota Boys Soccer Player of the Year: Maple Grove’s Frank Miller

Maple Grove senior centerback Frank Miller celebrates a slide tackle like a goal.

After poking the ball away from an opposing forward, Miller pumps his fist and shouts. In Maple Grove’s state quarterfinal win over Rochester Mayo, that fist was wrapped and casted, with Miller playing through a fractured wrist he picked up on Senior Night.

“I play my best when I’m giving other people energy,” Miller said. “If I can just bring the juice, they can feed off of it, get some momentum going.”

Miller is one of three captains for an undefeated Maple Grove team (18-0-1) chasing its first Class 3A title. This season, the Northwest Suburban Conference’s Player of the Year was tasked with defending All-State forwards such as Champlin Park’s Kafema Sanoe, Armstrong’s Moses Kamara, Totino-Grace’s Jabari Kibisu and Osseo’s John Fallah. He helped hold them all scoreless against the Crimson, one reason he’s the Star Tribune’s choice for All-Minnesota Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

“He just loves to defend,” co-head coach Gregg Leininger said. “That’s what you need. He loves to tackle. He loves to take on the best guy and stop him.”

Miller isn’t a quiet player that will abide by a coach’s every instruction. He also goes by “DJ Frank,” with a Maple Grove soccer-branded turntable. On the team’s early-season trip to Duluth, he rallied the Crimson and Duluth East’s team together to go swimming in Lake Superior, even when the coaches told him no. He helped start the team’s Instagram page, which has over 1,000 followers that tune in to see players dancing and posting gameday outfits.

It’s become a way for the team to connect with each other and former players, Miller said.

“They’ll do anything for him. He’s the boss,” said Leininger, noting Miller likes to push the limit. “He’s the coach’s dream, and then he’s the coach’s nightmare.”

“But if you do too much,” said co-head coach Justin Turner, “you ruin what he is.”

The Class 3A Mr. Soccer finalist found himself playing centerback like his two older brothers who captained Maple Grove before him, and their dad, who introduced them to the sport and is the Crimson longtime public address announcer.

“The Millers, we play hard-nosed soccer. It’s kind of our style,” Miller said. “It’s a tradition, [a] family tradition. We put our bodies on the line.”

After he fractured his wrist against Osseo midgame — and kept playing — Miller missed Maple Grove’s first two section tournament games but returned five days post-surgery to play in the Section 5 championship against Champlin Park. He converted the fifth and final penalty kick in the game’s shootout.

When Miller gets “a little too amped,” as he put it, the other two Maple Grove captains Ike Deuel and Owen Burshem help center him. They’ve been in the program together since seventh grade, working toward that first state trophy.

Before the state tournament started, Miller’s older brothers texted him: “Let the MGFC scripture lead the way.”