PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles striker Matthew Miller moved within eight goals of becoming the Roughriders’ all-time boys soccer goal-scoring leader this spring, a statistical achievement that dovetails nicely as he seeks to separate himself from the competition and find the right fit to continue his playing career at the collegiate level.
Miller sits at 59 goals after scoring 14 with four assists as a freshman, 23 as a sophomore with two assists and 22 goals with eight assists in his junior season this spring, earning a first-team All-Olympic League nod for his work.
He’s also the newspaper’s All-Peninsula Boys Soccer MVP in voting conducted by the sports staff of the Peninsula Daily News and area coaches.
Miller trails Rick Smith (2000), who poured in 66 goals and 22 assists in his career with 154 scoring points versus Miller’s 132 (59 and 14).
The goals are great and Miller is aware of the record, but he wanted to see his team make the leap back to playoff contention this spring.
“It was rough not to make the playoffs and struggle [as a sophomore],” Miller said of the 2024 Riders, who uncharacteristically finished last in the Olympic League in 2024. “I had great personal numbers, but I still felt I didn’t do enough for the team. So this season I just focused on doing what I needed to do for the team and I was hoping to break the scoring record this year, so not quite yet, but we are getting there.”
Longtime Roughriders coach Chris Saari was an assistant for Port Angeles during Smith’s senior season when he scored 30 goals and the Riders went to the state championship game.
He said Miller has a well-developed all-around game.
“Matthew is a natural goal scorer with great instincts, blazing speed and remarkable skills,” Saari said. “He can score with either foot, his head, with placement shots, volleys and driven shots with power.
“He consistently gets breakaways in behind opposing defenses with his speed, dribbling ability and service from his teammates. He is a free kick specialist with his right foot and takes penalty kicks. Matthew can make something out of nothing in tight areas and at tight angles in the penalty box. Matthew puts in extra work on perfecting his craft oftentimes after practice or in separate training sessions on his own.”
Miller said the first game of the season, a straight jump into Olympic League play against a Bremerton team that finished second in the league in 2024, stood out as his favorite match of the spring.
“Usually it’s not such an important league game to open the season,” Miller said. “The year before they beat us 5-4 and 5-2. They were a solid team, but we felt we could beat them.
“And personally, I didn’t have my best game, I didn’t finish, but my teammates supported me. We were down 1-0 with about 15 minutes left and Caleb LaGrange slotted one and ties it and Jacob Weaver, a great friend and teammate, got a header goal to the top right and we won 2-1. It showed the fight in our team and it was a great moment, I loved to see Jake and Caleb score as seniors. It got us believing in each other.
“We had a huge improvement in our defense led by Grant Butterworth, and our goalie Gus [Halberg] did a great job, allowing minimal goals and getting a lot of shutouts.”
Miller scored 56 percent of the Riders’ 39 total goals in 2025, with midfielder Kanyon Anderson (11 assists) his most frequent collaborator.
“Kanyon and I are a great dynamic duo,” Miller said. “He has the skills to visualize plays and send me great passes. He should have had more assists to be honest. I should have made more shots. He has to drop back into defense with how we set up sometimes, and I wish he got up more and we could build more attack like that. The best combination goals we had were through he and I working together.”
Miller, a team captain with an honor-roll GPA, joined the DECA marketing group this school year and teamed with longtime youth soccer and Port Angeles teammate Grant Butterworth to present cases at DECA competitions — qualifying for state and also getting invited to the International convention in Orlando, Fla.
“You can relate it back to marketing yourself and really presenting yourself as a product [to college coaches and recruiters],” Miller said.
“So I’m really going to dedicate myself to soccer this offseason,” he said. “I’ve decided to focus on that, so I’m going to be playing soccer every day on a club team and getting into the weight room. Not focus so much on physique, but to try and play for the highest level I can. And attend three or four camps, pick out some schools that I am the most interested in and make connections with college coaches.”
2025 All-Peninsula Boys Soccer Team
• MVP: Matthew Miller, Port Angeles
• Joshua Alcaraz, Sequim — Speedster was a first-team All-Olympic League pick.
• Nico Musso, Sequim — First-team All-Olympic Leaguer.
• Mateo Lucas, Forks — Honorable mention All-Evergreen League was the Spartans’ leading goal scorer.
• Simon Barlow, East Jefferson — Rivals’ scorer earned first-team All-Nisqually League.
• Alan Morales, East Jefferson — Quick and accurate striker improved Rivals’ offensively from the start of the season.
• Kanyon Anderson, Port Angeles — Most skilled distributor on the Peninsula tallied five goals and 11 assists in earning second-team All-Olympic League.
• Jacob Weaver, Port Angeles — Notched four goals, three assists as a Riders’ captain.
• Evan Cisneros, Sequim — Second-team All-Olympic League choice.
• Grant Butterworth, Port Angeles — Described as the “backbone of PA defense,” by Saari. First-team All-Olympic League choice scored one goal with one assist.
• Estevan Ramos, Forks — Capable defender earned honorable mention All-Evergreen League.
• Nolan Valenzuela, Sequim — Goalkeeper Picked as Olympic League Defensive MVP. Multi-year standout will play for Peninsula College.
• Gus Halberg, Port Angeles — Hoops standout and former youth soccer player returns to sport for lone varsity season, recorded seven shutouts and earned second-team All-Olympic League. Faced nine PK shots in playoff victory over Olympic, making a critical save on the final shot, then made a penalty kick to win the game.
• Juan Terrones, Forks — Longtime Spartans’ goalkeeper named Evergreen League Goalkeeper MVP.
Former Port Angeles boys soccer coach Scott Soule contributed statistical information.
Sequim’s Josh Alcaraz (12), here playing against Bremerton, was on the first team all-Olympic team and is a member of the All-Peninsula boys soccer team. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
