Fuller 1st woman to score in Power 5
NASHVILLE, TENN. >> Sarah Fuller became the first woman to score in a Power Five conference football game, cleanly kicking a pair of extra points for Vanderbilt in a 42-17 loss to Tennessee on Saturday.
T he goa lkeeper for Vanderbilt’s Southeastern Conference women’s soccer champs made both of her kicks, to the cheers of her teammates and family.
“This whole time has been if I can do it, if I’m good enough to do it,” Fuller said 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.”
Fuller got her historic chance with 1:50 left in the first quarter.
Listed second
out
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three available kickers on with a big smile with her the depth chart, Fuller family in the stands all came out to try the extra with their arms up in the point. Theair.6-foot-2senior put Cthe ball through the uprights to tie the game at 7 and celebrated by pulling her fist in before slapping high-fives with teammates.
Fuller came off the field
enter judge Chris Garner made sure to give Fuller the ball, the official bringing it to her at the sideline.
Vanderbilt gave Fuller another chance with 7:22 left in the game. Ken Seals hit Ben Bresnahan with a 16-yard TD pass, and Fuller went back out. She kicked the extra point through as the Commodores closed to 35-17.
Fuller made history as the first female to play in a Power Five conference game on Nov. 28 with a squib kickoff to open the second half at Missouri. She has remained on the roster even as Vanderbilt’s other kickers came out of quarantine and rejoined the team.
Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt, who had a daughter earlier this year, said it was awesome.
“She’s obviously a winner,” Pruitt said about Fuller. “And she walked up there and kicked it right through. So I just think it says a whole lot about her and really, kind of her fortitude to be brave enough to go do this.”
The Commodores fell to 0-9 this season.