Sarah Fuller was known for her athletic performance as a goal keeper for Vanderbilt. Now she will be known as the first woman to play in a Power 5 game.
Watching the Vanderbilt play Missouri yesterday, there wasn’t much to keep fans happy in terms of the game itself. The Missouri Tigers were up 21-0 at the half. However, all eyes were still on this game and the camera kept going to one person, the only girl in full uniform standing on the sidelines waiting for her shot, Sarah Fuller. She would only get one shot at the start of the second half, when she came onto the field to kick it off to the opposing team and kicked the ball to the 35-yard line.
The play was designed to perfection as Missouri wasn’t able to get any yards on the play and with that, Fuller had officially became the first woman to play in a power 5 game. Unfortunately, that was the only play that fans got to see her in action as Vanderbilt went on to lose 41-0, but the score wasn’t the headliner as everyone was still talking about Sarah Fuller. Her way into the history books was actually somewhat immediate as she had just finished helping in winning the conference tournament title and was supposed to be winding down from the win.
However, life had different plans for her as COVID-19 had impacted Vanderbilt’s football team and left them without many specialists. Fuller was given the opportunity to try out and made the trip for the game, along with two other specialists, both guys, but for her, she was the one that was going to make history. In a post game interview she stated “Honestly, it’s just so exciting, the fact that I can represent the little girls out there who wanted to do this or thought about playing football or any sport really and it encourages them to be able to step out and do something like this.”
It didn’t seem to phase her in terms of nerves as she also stated “The SEC Championship was more stressful, but I was really excited to step out onto the field and do my thing.” She laughed as she said it jokingly, which also showed that she was able to go out and have fun with it which is something that always needs to be at the forefront of sports. We’ll see if she gets another opportunity to go back onto the field for their next game as despite everything that 2020 has given sports, it also gave us history in the making.