On Saturday, Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller could become a two-sport athlete.
After finishing out the soccer season as her team’s starting goalkeeper - and helping the Commodores win their first SEC title in women’s soccer since 1994 - she could make her football debut as a kicker.
With multiple members of the football team in quarantine as a result of COVID-19 protocols, Fuller attended the team’s practice on Tuesday, according to a report by Simon Gibbs in Vanderbilt’s student newspaper.
On Wednesday, football head coach Derek Mason confirmed that Fuller is an option at kicker. “For us, talking to Sarah, she’s a champ, and no pun intended,” Mason told ESPN 102.5 The Game. “Just coming off an SEC Championship in soccer… She’s a complete competitor. She’s an option for us. Right now, that’s where we sit.”
Vanderbilt’s football team is currently 0-7, and is 3-7 in field goals. This is due, in part, to graduate transfer kicker Oren Milstein opting out of the season, citing “the ethics of playing college football during a pandemic” as a factor in his decision.
If Fuller gets the nod, it is believed that she could be the first woman to play football in a “Power 5" conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) game.
