EDWARDSVILLE – Ethan Miracle, one of the St. Louis area’s top boys soccer players, who was the leading scorer for Edwardsville High the past two seasons, signed a letter of intent to attend Denison University of Granville, Ohio, located outside Columbus, in a ceremony on Monday afternoon at Edwardsville High School.
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Miracle will be playing for the NCAA Division III school, a member of the North Coast Athletic Conference, and is looking forward to his next step.
“It’s actually pretty exciting,” Miracle said with a smile.
Miracle was attracted to the small-town atmosphere that surrounds the campus.
“Well, I kind of like the small town feel in Granville,” Miracle said. “They’ve got some great facilities over there, the coaches and players over there are always great, great guys to be around. It was something that really intrigued me, kind of appealed to my small town type of feel, like we have in Edwardsville.”
The academics of the school was also a major factor in Miracle’s decision to attend Denison.
“That’s a great academic school,” Miracle said. “Just always like to be challenged, and necessarily something they’ll give me there, outside of my athletic career.
“When looking at other schools, it’s just like the certain atmosphere that Denison has, it’s just different from everywhere else,” Miracle also said. “It’s really kind of a gut feeling you have when picking out a school, and it’s really something I can see myself spending four years at.”
Tigers coach Mark Heiderscheid is very proud of Miracle, both as a player and as a person.
“Yeah, because I mean, Ethan’s one of those kids that, yeah, sure, he’s a soccer player of ours,” Heiderschied said, “and a good one. But also, he’s been everything from a class president here at school, to involved with lots of activities. He’s a very popular student, not only because of the fact that he’s an athlete and a neat kid to be around, but also because he’s a very good person. So I think guys like Ethan just attract people to them. He’s a Troy Bolton ‘High School Musical’ sort of a kid in that respect.
“Like I said, people just gravitate toward him just because of his personality and what he kind of brings,” Heiderschied also said. “And so, yeah, for me, super, super proud of him. He’s a kid that’s really in the last couple of years just impacted our program so positively. Yes, he’s been the leading scorer for the last two consecutive years, both as a junior, and then this year, as a senior, he again has done that. But if you look at how he conducts himself, he, at every single practice, he has high energy, every single game, there’s lots of effort, high energy. He’s a very technical player, he’s a guy that tactically knows the game so well. Then again, he’s an absolute breath of fresh air, he’s the consummate leader out on an athletic field, he’s always positive.”
Heiderschied, while very proud of Miracle and his accomplishments for the Tigers both on and off the pitch, will miss being around him on a daily basis.
“So, really for us, he just has attacked so many bases,” Heiderscheid said, “and yeah, definitely proud of him, and also, you hate to say, but every single year, you get sad as a coach in a way, just because on one hand, it’s neat that these kids move on from Edwardsville and continue on the path of their next life. But at the same time, it’s like, well yeah, but then all of a sudden, I don’t get to see them on a daily basis anymore. And he has been certainly one that’s always been great to see on a daily basis. He’s an absolute, fantastic kid. He comes from a great family, and those are kids that you just – you’re always sad to seek out, happy with the time that you’ve been with them. I always talk about my past players, because they’re so neat to be around. But for me, it’s really an extended family, and Ethan certainly is one of those kids in the extended family, and I hope to stay in contact with him for the next 25 years, or until I croak, whichever comes first.”
Miracle plans on going into sports medicine after graduation, and plans on majoring either in biology or sports medicine. Miracle is also diabetic, and knows how to control his condition, and will also have much assistance from the team as well.
“Well, it’s pretty much the same,” Miracle said. “I like to think I’m pretty self-sufficient; I’ve only had it for a year, but I feel like I managed it pretty well. But being able to have like the team nutritionist look after stuff like that, it’s going to be pretty easy to manage while I’m away at college.”
Miracle doesn’t let his diabetes get in the way of enjoying success on the pitch.
“Yeah, it’s not awful,” Miracle said. “Once you get it managed down off the field, it makes it pretty easy to manage on the field. Exercising all the time really helps manage it, but just keeping an eye on it and knowing it’s there in the back of your mind, Other than that, it’s not super big; it’s not a huge challenge for me.”
Miracle will be a central striker and hopes to help the Big Red into their postseason in 2019.
“Just being there, to bring me in and score goals,” Miracle said, “and hopefully make the tournament next year.”
Miracle’s nose for the net will be a huge asset for the Big Red.
“Like I said, he really does,” Heiderscheid said. “He’s just a very active kid, he’s very eager. A lot of the time, at times, people think ‘well, you have to kind of fortunate for that.’ But there’s a lot of good fortune that comes with goal scoring, and many times, when you look at top strikers, he’s just very intelligent in the terms of how he spaces himself, he’s a guy that, like I said, he gets to the spot. He’s a kid that, at times, kind of like a basketball player where they’ll miss a shot, or a baseball player; he’ll strike out. But he doesn’t worry about any shot that he’s previously missed. He’s just going to keep shooting, and of course, he himself, making lots of goals for our team. And I think some kids can’t do that; they get too fixated on any past thing that hasn’t gone the best.
"He’s a kid that knows of his talent, and so, he has the audacity to just continue to keep shooting, even though he missed the last shot. And that’s what I think also makes him a very special player, in that he plays in the moment. And so, therefore, he learns by past, but he doesn’t worry or gets too bothered by anything that’s happened or preceded it. He continues to play to the best of his ability, and that ability is pretty good, so that’s very good.”
Miracle has some simple goals for his time at Denison.
“Just do my best, and try to help the team out in their future endeavors,” Miracle said.
And after graduation, Miracle hopes to go into sports medicine.
“Go into sports medicine, be a sports medicine physician,” Miracle said, “help athletes. If I can’t play professionally, then help out players in another way, and I’m really into medicine, so that would like a good one for me.
“It’s really awesome to being able people out in that way,” Miracle also said.
Heiderscheid thinks of Miracle as another great kid who comes from a long line of great kids who have played for the Tigers in the past and feels privileged to coach so many good kids at Edwardsville High.
“Again, I just think that Ethan’s just another great kid in a long line of great kids that, every year, you get to coach,” Heiderscheid said. “I think, as coaches here at Edwardsville, you certainly are blessed, if not spoiled, in that we get to work with so many good kids. It’s a signing, and so, you talk a lot about kids and that. But the kids like Ethan are the real deal. He’s very talented, but he’s also such a great person. That really makes coaching super rewarding when you’ve got kids like Ethan.”
