A woman made some NCAA football history on Saturday.
Haley Van Voorhis, who plays safety for Division-III Shenandoah University, became the first woman non-kicker to play in a NCAA football game.
Van Voorhis entered the game in the first quarter with Shenandoah leading Juniata by 26 points.
The junior, who is 5-foot-6 and 145 pounds, registered a quarterback hurry on third down.
“It’s an amazing thing,” Van Voorhis said after the game, according to the Washington Post. “I just wanted to get out and do my thing. I want to show other people this is what women can do, to show what I can do. It’s a big moment. I made the impossible possible, and I’m excited about that.”
Van Voorhis — a native of Plains, Va. — played on the school’s junior varsity team the past two seasons.
She attended high school at Christchurch and was a 2019 all-state honorable mention on her football team. Her senior season was canceled because of COVID-19.
Van Voorhis doesn’t just play college football. She is a sprinter on Shenandoah’s track and field team.
Shenandoah went on to beat Juniata 48-7, who improved to 2-1 with the win.
Women have been kickers in college football before. Katie Hnida in 2003 became the first woman to score in an NCAA Division I-A football game as the placekicker at New Mexico.
In 2020, Sarah Fuller became the first woman to score in a Power 5 football game as the kicker for Vanderbilt.
“I just think it’s incredible that I am able to do this, and all I want to do is be a good influence to the young girls out there because there were times like I struggled in sports,” Fuller said at the time. “But I am so thankful I stuck with it, and it’s given me so many opportunities. I’ve met so many amazing people through sports, and I just want to say like literally you can do anything you set your mind to.”
Fuller later returned to her primary job as a goalie for the Vanderbilt women’s soccer team.
NEWS CREDIT
