Newcastle pair Miller and House join Wyoming

The Australian pipeline to Wyoming continues to deliver with today’s announcement that Newcastle Jets W-League defender Brooke Miller and former Jets striker Jemma House have put pen to paper on National Letters of Intent and will link up with the Cowgirls for the 2017 season and beyond. The addition of the pair means that there will continue to be five Australians on Wyoming’s roster, with Miller and House joining Alisha Bass, Georgia Rowntree, Annika Clayton, and Jessie Gentle in Laramie.

Brooke Miller has been part of the Newcastle Jets W-League squad for the last three seasons. The centre back made her debut in October 2014, playing 24 minutes off the bench in a 5-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers, and has gone on to make 11 appearances for the Jets in her three seasons with the club, including three starts.

Brooke has also featured for the Emerging Jets side in the NPL New South Wales women’s league, making 25 appearances in two seasons in between commitments with the Under 17 and Under 20 national teams, with whom the defender has featured at a number of AFC tournaments, including the 2016 AFF Championship and 2015 AFC Under 19 Championship. Miller will not be the only player from that 2015 side to play in college, with UCLA’s Teagan Micah and Stanford’s Beattie Goad also part of that side which missed out on the knockout stages following defeats to Japan and China in the group stage.

Brooke’s commitment should also serve to ensure that Alisha Bass can return to her favoured attacking midfield role on a permanent basis. Despite the loss of senior defenders Katie Marcheso and Sammi Dunda, the addition of Miller will help improve the defensive depth in the Wyoming squad and give coach Pete Cuadrado the freedom to play the Australian senior higher up the park more often.

Jemma House has spent the last two seasons playing at nearby Laramie County Community College, where the striker has been one of the stars of the squad. A two-time all American, Jemma was also awarded the regional player of the year in 2016 and regional freshman of the year award in 2015 as part of a junior college career that saw the Kurri Kurri junior score 47 goals and tally 14 assists in 44 games. Jemma has also featured in Young Matildas training camp squads before making the move to Laramie. Having played two seasons in junior college, Jemma will have two seasons of eligibility remaining at Wyoming.