Vanderbilt Commodores women's soccer goalkeeper-turned-kicker became the first female to score in a Power-5 college football game on Saturday.- The 21-year-old insisted after Saturday's game that she earned her playing time and that the decision to put her in the game "wasn't [about] if I was a girl or not."
- Fuller made two extra points in the game.
The Vanderbilt Commodores women's soccer goalkeeper-turned-football-kicker became the first woman to participate in a Power-5 college football game late last month, and on Saturday, Fuller once again made history. This time, she became the first female to score in a Power-5 college football game after knocking an extra point through the uprights against the Tennessee Volunteers.
—Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) December 12, 2020
And even though there was much excitement surrounding both feats for her personally and for womankind, Fuller stressed that she had won the job on her own merit.
"This whole time has been if I can do it, if I'm good enough to do it," Fuller said after the game, per ESPN. "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."
Her coaches seconded her point, with Vanderbilt interim head coach Todd Fitch explaining that he decided to play her because "she's been accurate in that area of the field."
"We get in the game and she was highly accurate with it in that range, the extra points and inside the 10, so she was going to get those," Fitch said. "The other kickers were going to get it further back."
"It was truly off statistics of the week's preparation," he added. "It wasn't about trying to do something special. It was truly who made most of those kicks."
Fuller was perfect on the day, drilling two kicks between the pipes for extra points after Vanderbilt touchdowns. Still, the Commodores lost 42-17 to their in-state rivals, knocking the team back to 0-9 on the season. Fitch's squad will finish out the year with a tough matchup against the No. 9 Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday, and all signs point to Fuller remaining with the team to round out 2020.
- Read more:
- Women's soccer star Sarah Fuller makes college football history with extra point for Vanderbilt
- Another female college football kicker has emerged, and she saved her teammates from extra sprints by drilling a field goal in her first practice
- Sarah Fuller silenced critics of her Vanderbilt kick by sharing a clip of her incredible full-field goalkeeper assist
- Sarah Fuller said haters can 'talk crap all they want' about her historic stint with Vanderbilt football team