With her senior year well underway, Bella Wyatt is looking to help the Millers win their third straight IHSAA 3A State Championship in girls’ soccer. Wyatt was a steady force in goal for the Millers during both the 2022 & 2023 state championship seasons. During those two seasons, she amassed 94 saves and holds one of the lowest single-season goals against averages in IHSAA soccer history. Her performance in goal has led to her being nominated to the All-State, All-Conference, and All-District teams as a junior. Now as a senior, she is set on trying to help Noblesville win its third consecutive state championship, something the Lady Millers came close to doing after winning back-to-back state titles in in 2019 and 2020 seasons. When asked how it made her feel to accomplish so much already in her career part as part of a program at Noblesville, she was proud of what she has done but put an emphasis on the culture and teamwork that makes it all possible.
“It’s great to look back and see what we have been able to accomplish as a team so far during my career with Noblesville. Honestly, I’m proud of the individual accomplishments and records that I have achieved, but what I’m mostly proud of are what my teammates and I have accomplished together. It wouldn’t be possible for any of us to receive an individual award if we didn’t play for each other every time we stepped foot on the field. Soccer is a team sport, and it takes every single member of our team to be able to accomplish what we have done. Our program is based on one simple foundation and that is “We Are Together”. I don’t believe we would have won back-to-back state championships without that mentality.” Wyatt told Justin Hartsough of One Nation Sports Indiana.
When asked if there was a favorite memory from her time playing for Noblesville High School that she would like to go back and relive, the star senior says that winning the IHSAA 3A state title for the very first time in 2022 was one incredible experience that she will always remember. In that game, the Millers won in a shutout over Carmel by a score of 1-0. This victory was Bella’s first state title and the Millers 3rd in the past 4 seasons. Immediately following the game, the state championship trophy was presented to the Millers where Bella was able to take part in hoisting the trophy with her teammates in front of the Millers faithful that made the trip down to Michael A. Carroll Stadium. Moments like this are what make Indiana High School sports so enjoyable to watch and the hysteria that comes with it.
“I have so many great memories that I’ve made during my time at Noblesville High School, but the one that sticks out the most would have to be our first state title game my sophomore year. Just the build-up from that moment was such a surreal experience and I’ve played in a lot of high-level games including a second state championship, but nothing matches that first state game. Especially the last 10 seconds of that match knowing that we were going to achieve our goal was one of the most exciting moments of my life.” Wyatt said.
I asked Bella what she does to keep excelling in her position. She explained she really has no off season and when she is not on the field, she is spending time in the gym working with her strength and conditioning coach. By staying active it helps her not only keep improving but it goes a long way toward injury prevention.
“I keep striving to improve in my position on the field by just focusing on technique and putting a lot of effort into strength training. To do this I train year around; during club season I am lucky enough to have Andy Swift as my keeper coach and a strong keeper group to keep pushing me to excel to be my best. As I moved on to high school soccer, there was no letdown in training thanks to Coach Hart running my training and having some of the best keepers in the state to work with. During my freshman year, I was brought into the mix by senior keepers Kailee “Texas” Moore, Josie Taylor, and Nona Reason who was also a member of the U.S. U20 National Team. Then as a sophomore when I took over the majority of the workload, I was constantly being pushed by the keeper group to excel in training.” Wyatt explained.
On December 20th of last year, Bella announced over social media that she would be continuing her academic and athletic career by choosing to play D1 soccer for Ohio University. She had offers from several D1 universities, but after her visit in December, it was clear that Ohio University was where she needed to be. Her main reason for choosing the Bobcats really fell back to the team’s chemistry and feeling like she would gel well into their culture. The culture seems to be very similar to what she has experienced playing for Noblesville and this really starts with their head coach Aaron Rodgers and filters down through all members of their team.
“I would say that out of all the offers Ohio University stood out to me because of the overall feeling I had when visiting the campus. Of course, the financial package they offered was important, but all things considered, the deciding factor was seeing the true friendship and chemistry between the girls on the team. Through my recruiting process, Coach Rodgers was very straightforward and said that he didn’t want me to take his word for how the program was running. He encouraged me to talk to every player on the team and get their opinions. I was able to do that and no matter the player, it was all the same feel that was important to me. Especially coming from a program like Noblesville where everyone is playing for each other finding that culture at the next level was very important to me.” Wyatt replied.
Bella wants her final year of high school soccer to be a memorable one with her teammates. With nothing left to prove the 5-10 goalkeeper has high hopes of playing alongside her teammates one last time as she looks to make a true statement heading into the 2024 postseason. Just like everybody else, Wyatt has her heart set on playing for a state championship and has the intention of making history by winning the program’s first-ever three-peat in girls’ soccer.
“I’m going into this season with the mentality to just have fun and to enjoy one last ride with my high school teammates. I personally don’t feel that I nor any of my teammates have anything left to prove and hope we can go out and just continue to play for each other and see how far we can go in the state tournament one last time! Obviously, just like everyone in the state, my goal is to be playing the first weekend of November competing for a third State title.” Wyatt stated.
The defending 3A Noblesville Millers are coming off a big 5-0 win over HCC conference rival Fishers. This weekend, they head to North Central to play in the Paul Logan invitational where they will take on Fort Wayne Canterbury at 7:30pm on Friday night and Warsaw High School at 11am on Saturday morning.