Noblesville High School senior Sydney Elliott takes her role as leader on the girls soccer team very seriously.
“As a senior captain this year, Sydney has flourished in the role because she builds others up, and by doing so, she allows her teammates to see that they are able to reach heights they may not have thought they could without her encouragement,” Millers coach Mike Brady said. “While Sydney has played an important role for the Millers on the field the past two years, she has always put her teammates first, and she understands what it means to be both a good teammate and a good person.”
Entering the Oct. 21 Class 3A semistate, Elliott has seven goals and four assists for the 3A No. 3 Millers. She plays an outside forward spot. Junior Meredith Tippner had a team-high 22 goals.
This is Elliott’s second year playing varsity. She started for the 3A state championship team last season. Noblesville also won state titles in 2019 and 2020.
“One of the key things has been communication with each other,” Elliott said. “This is a fairly young team, especially compared to last year. I think we lost seven of our 11 starters (to graduation). It took a lot of adjusting. At one point, our coach sat us down in the locker room about halfway through the season and told us we needed to be a team and be there for each other. From that point, it has felt like a whole new team.”
Elliott said players support each other on and off the field.
“She truly defines what a student-athlete is. She’s all business at training and in games, and that’s how she is in the classroom and in her other extracurricular activities as well,” Brady said. “As we all talk about, if you’re going to spend time doing something, give it your (best) absolute effort, and Sydney does.”
Elliott said her biggest improvement this season on the field has been her confidence.
“My position involves 1-versus-1 situations, and I just need to have confidence in myself to beat a player,” she said.
Elliott, who plays for Indy Premier Soccer Club, started playing soccer at an early age. She briefly tried other sports but soccer has always been her main concentration.
She does serve as a dance captain for New Dimension, the high school’s all-female show choir.
“Dance captain is like the biggest leadership role in that group of 60 girls,” she said.
Elliott plans to play soccer in college for a small school.
“I love playing the game,” she said. “I want to play and not necessarily sit on the bench for a couple of years, so I’m looking at schools where I can hopefully get on the field and make an impact right away.”
Elliott plans to major in kinesiology or exercise science to prepare for a career in physical therapy. She will have an internship in a physical therapy office during school hours, starting in the second semester.
Favorite movie: Any Marvel movie
Favorite athlete: Alyssa Thompson
Favorite subject: Science
Favorite musician: Bruno Mars
