Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller first woman to score in Power 5 college football game

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt University kicker Sarah Fuller made more history on Saturday, becoming the first woman to score a point in a Power 5 college football game.

>> Read more trending news

Fuller, 21, of Wylie, Texas, kicked two extra points for the Commodores. The first came after a Vanderbilt touchdown with 1:50 remaining in the first quarter, The Tennessean reported. That tied the game at 7-7.

When the extra-point team ran onto the field, Fuller stayed on the sideline before holder Harrison Smith waved at her, the newspaper reported.

Vanderbilt gave Fuller another chance with 7:22 left in the game, ESPN reported. After Ken Seals threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Ben Bresnahan, and Fuller kicked the extra to cut the Commodores’ deficit to 35-17.

“This whole time has been if I can do it, if I’m good enough to do it,” Fuller told reporters after the game. “It wasn’t if I was a girl or not. So that’s something I’ve really appreciated. At the end of the day, they treated me like an athlete and that’s the best I could ask for.’'

Vanderbilt (0-9) lost the game 42-17 to the Volunteers.

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

Fuller made college football history last month when she kicked off to open the second half against Missouri, becoming the first woman to play in a Power 5 conference game. On Saturday, she continued to break ground.

Fuller, the senior goalkeeper on Vanderbilt’s Southeastern Conference championship soccer team, followed New Mexico’s Katie Hnida (2003) and Kent State’s April Goss (2015), who both scored points as kickers in FBS games, although in Group of Five conferences.

>> History made: Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller becomes 1st woman to play in Power 5 game

Only two other women have played football at the FBS level, ESPN reported: Katie Hnida of New Mexico and April Goss of Kent State.

On Aug. 30, 2001, Ashley Martin became the first woman to score points at the Division I level when she kicked three extra points for Jacksonville State against Cumberland. Two years later, Hnida became the first woman to score points at the FBS level when she kicked two extra points against Texas State, ESPN reported.

In 1997 Liz Heaston kicked two extra points for Willamette, then an NAIA program, The Tennessean reported.

Brittany Ryan is the all-time NCAA female scoring leader with 100 points. She was a kicker at Division III school Lebanon Valley from 2007 to 2010, according to The Tennessean.

Cox Media Group