November 8, 2024

Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller becomes first woman to score in Power Five college football game

Sarah Fuller #SarahFuller

NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller became the first woman to score in a Power Five college football game Saturday against Tennessee.

In the first quarter, Fuller made an extra-point kick after a Vanderbilt touchdown pass from Ken Seals to Cam Johnson.

When the extra-point team ran onto the field, Fuller remained on the sideline for a few moments before holder Harrison Smith waved her on. 

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Fuller is one of three kickers on the Commodores’ active roster, along with Pierson Cooke and Wes Farley.

Cooke is 3-for-7 on field goals and 9-for-9 on extra-point kicks this season. Farley is 6-for-6 on extra-point kicks. Like Fuller, Farley was a soccer player who played his first football game this season.

a group of men playing a game of football: Vanderbilt place kicker Sarah Fuller (32) kicks an extra point to tie up the game against Tennessee during the first quarter at Vanderbilt Stadium Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020 in Nashville, Tenn. © George Walker IV / Tennessean.com Vanderbilt place kicker Sarah Fuller (32) kicks an extra point to tie up the game against Tennessee during the first quarter at Vanderbilt Stadium Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020 in Nashville, Tenn.

This is the second football game for Fuller, the goalkeeper for Vanderbilt’s SEC tournament champion soccer team.

On Nov. 28, Fuller became the first woman to play in a Power Five game, including the SEC. She followed New Mexico’s Katie Hnida (2003) and Kent State’s April Goss (2015), who both scored points as kickers in FBS games, though in Group of Five conferences. 

Women have made a few appearances in college football games since 1997, when Liz Heaston kicked two extra points for Willamette, then an NAIA program.

Brittany Ryan is the all-time NCAA female scoring leader with 100 points as a kicker at Division III school Lebanon Valley from 2007-10.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller becomes first woman to score in Power Five college football game

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