Sarah Fuller has become the first woman to score in an elite-level US college football game, cleanly kicking a pair of extra points for Vanderbilt University in a 42-17 loss to the University of Tennessee in Nashville.
Key points:
- Fuller created history when she scored an extra point in the first quarter
- She became the first woman to play in a Power Five conference game last month
- Tennis great Billie Jean King congratulated Fuller for “blazing another trail”
Fuller, the goalkeeper for Vanderbilt’s Southeastern Conference (SEC) women’s soccer team, got her historic chance with just under two minutes left in the first quarter of the game between two teams belonging to one of the major Power Five conferences.
Listed second out of three available kickers on the depth chart, Fuller came out for the extra point, which tied the score at 7-7 at that stage of the game.
The 188cm senior put the ball through the uprights and celebrated by pumping her fist before slapping high fives with teammates.
One of the game officials made sure to give the 21-year-old the ball, bringing it to her at the sideline.
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Winless Vanderbilt (0-9) finally gave Fuller another chance with 7:22 left in the game. She kicked another extra point through as the Commodores closed to 35-17, before Tennessee iced its win.
“This whole time has been if I can do it, if I’m good enough to do it,” Fuller said.
“At the end of the day, they treated me like an athlete and that’s the best I could ask for.”
Fuller made history as the first woman to play in a Power Five conference game late last month with a kick-off to open the second half of Vanderbilt’s clash with the University of Missouri in the SEC.
She has remained on the roster even as Vanderbilt’s other kickers have come out of quarantine for coronavirus and rejoined the team.
US tennis great Billie Jean King, regarded as a pioneer for women in sport, praised Fuller for “blazing another trail”.
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Liz Heaston was the first woman to score in college football, with two extra points for Willamette University — which competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics — in 1997.
Katie Hnida was the first woman to score at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, with two extra points for the University of New Mexico in 2003.
April Goss was the second, with an extra point for Kent State University in 2015.
Tonya Butler was the first woman to kick a field goal in an NCAA game for Division II University of West Alabama in 2003.
AP/ABC
