Olivia Miles, Caitlin Clark among WNBA stars who attribute hoops skills to soccer background
· Yahoo Sports
John Pearson, the former Dowling Catholic High girls’ soccer coach, doesn’t remember every detail of his team’s match from April 30, 2018. But he’ll never forget what he saw Caitlin Clark do on the field that day in Iowa.
Dowling trailed Johnston 2-0 in the second half. Even after Dowling scored once, Pearson told his assistant coach, “If (Johnston) scores another one, we’re down and out.”
Visit catcross.biz for more information.
Somewhere between the 65th and 70th minute of the 80-minute game, he recalls his sophomore striker collecting the ball in a crowded penalty area, turning through traffic and rifling a shot into the top corner to tie the score. Dowling went on to win 3-2, and Pearson credits Clark’s wizardry with dragging the team back into the game.
“That just knocked the stuffing out of Johnston,” Pearson said. “She just took that game by the scruff — ‘I’m gonna win this game’ — and she did. It was incredible to watch. … You’re like, ‘Oh, my God, how did she do that?’”
Clark authored many highlights on the soccer field, and as a freshman she made the 2017 Class 3A All-Iowa Girls Soccer Team, which was selected by the Des Moines Register.
This, of course, came several years before she became a basketball superstar who is now leading the Indiana Fever into the WNBA playoffs.
Clark is one of many WNBA stars who once dominated high school and youth soccer fields. Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles, Toronto Tempo guard Kiki Rice and Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale — plus retired legends Candace Parker and Sue Bird — are among those who share versions of the same two-sport past.
Even though it’s been years since they’ve played soccer competitively, the active WNBA stars still reap the benefits of their past exploits.
“Physically, you have different muscles that are sore, and you work different (muscle) groups in your body and work on your agility in different ways,” Miles said. “It was really beneficial to me, both mentally and physically.”
Like Miles, Clark pursued both sports during her formative years, playing club soccer before high school, when the demands of each were still manageable. She played only six games as a high school freshman but scored 26 goals before leaving for basketball tryouts and eventually making the U.S. Under-16 team that won gold at the 2017 FIBA U-16 Americas Championship in Argentina.
She rarely started in soccer because Pearson gave time to players who committed more to the sport. As Clark said on the podcast “Post Moves,” hosted by Parker and Fever teammate Aliyah Boston, she ended up quitting soccer because of the guilt she felt about her lack of attendance. “I felt like a bad teammate,” Clark said.
Pearson was surprised when she returned for her sophomore campaign.
Clark established herself as a starting striker for Dowling. Unlike the mobile, deep-shooting style that defines her on the basketball court, she was a more physical scorer on the soccer field, thriving amid the congestion of the goal box. Clark saw her most translatable traits coming from her playmaking in both sports.
“The best thing it did for me was foot speed, but also reading angles,” Clark said. “That’s what soccer is: getting your body in the correct angle, leading people on (when) passing, putting the ball in the perfect spot where they can run on to. … That’s helped me as a passer. Understanding angles, leading people, manipulating people on where I want them to go.”
As a leader, the fiery Clark “didn’t overstep her boundaries” but was “very vocal,” Pearson said, and her competitive edge was obvious. For those who know about Clark’s collection of technical fouls this season, it’s no surprise to hear her recount that “I got quite a few yellow cards. I know that’s probably not very shocking.”
Clark finished her sophomore season that spring and didn’t return, committing to basketball full-time afterward. She took with her an everlasting love of the sport, the passing acumen, and an appreciation for the conditioning it offered. “It allowed me to be in really incredible shape for basketball,” Clark said. “I loved it.”
That same fall, more than 1,000 miles away in New Jersey, Blair Academy girls’ soccer coach David Mamukelashvili was getting his first glimpse at Miles’ abilities.
Miles played three years of high school soccer, the final two under Mamukelashvili, before COVID-19 canceled her senior season in 2020. Her highlights went viral after a guest appearance on the “Welcome to the Party” podcast with Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy and Billie Jean King in late August.
The clips showcased a devastatingly multifaceted striker. She could pull up and score from 40 yards on a free kick, take a single touch past defenders and accelerate into space before finishing an attack, or drift toward the back post and rise for crosses.
“She would always be at the right place at the right time; she had that ‘striker’s instinct,’” Mamukelashvili said. “It comes from basketball a little bit because when you rebound the ball — and you know she was taller than other girls in high school — you have to read the trajectory of the ball. ‘Where is it gonna land?’ And I think that translated really well.”
But Mamukelashvili said Miles was more than a finisher. She could drop into the build-up, connect with midfielders and then find the right outlet to spring wingers into scoring opportunities.
Dangerous anywhere on the field. Able to beat defenders in any way, shape, or form. Able to carve out opportunities, then thread dimes to teammates. Her personality translates as well.
“She was definitely one of the more expressive players,” Mamukelashvili said. “She generally feeds off the energy of the crowd, off her momentum and off the opposition. The angrier you make her, the worse it is for you. … You poke the bear, and then suddenly you’re like, ‘Now I’m screwed.’ But people still try to get in her head to no avail.”
Miles was two goals shy of becoming Blair Academy’s all-time leading scorer in soccer, and that was before the COVID-affected senior season robbed her of the chance to add to her total. Even without games, Mamukelashvili said, she continued training with him to stay in shape for basketball season.
Miles said that she enjoyed soccer because she could play with different teammates and be around different people from her basketball day-to-day.
On the basketball court, Miles became a McDonald’s All-American in high school before emerging as a three-time AP All-American across a five-year college career at Notre Dame and TCU.
Drafted with the No. 2 pick by the Lynx in this year’s WNBA Draft, Miles averaged 19.8 points, 6.0 assists and 4.7 rebounds in her rookie season. She led Minnesota to the league’s best record and entered the MVP conversation alongside Clark, becoming a unanimous rookie of the year honoree.
Dangerous from everywhere. Capable of everything. Just like she was on the soccer field.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, Indiana Fever, WNBA
2026 The Athletic Media Company