Vanderbilt Women’s Soccer Goalie Sarah Fuller to Handle Placekicking Duties vs. Missouri Saturday

With many of the team’s special teams players in quarantine, women’s soccer standout Sarah Fuller practiced with the team and is available as kicker for Vanderbilt Saturday.

Texas-native Fuller is a senior goalkeeper for the 8-4 Commodores. She appeared in nine games and made 28 saves this season.

Last weekend Fuller recorded three saves in a 3-1 upset over Arkansas for the SEC tournament title.

Winless Vanderbilt Could Use the Lift

On Tuesday, campus paper The Vanderbilt Hustler broke the story that Fuller was practicing with the football team which is short-handed due to recent COVID-19 outbreaks.

Then on Wednesday, Vanderbilt football head coach Derek Mason, on his radio show for 102.5 The Game in Nashville, confirmed that Fuller was “an option.”

“She’s got a strong leg,” Mason said. “We’ll see what that yields.”

Friday, the team announced that Fuller would travel to Missouri and is available for Saturday.

Fuller promptly tweeted out the news and immediately went viral with the hashtag #PlayLikeAGirl

Let’s make history. #PlayLikeAGirl #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/3SgBP1qZru

— Sarah Fuller (@SarahFuller_27) November 27, 2020

If Fuller plays Saturday, she will be the first woman to participate in a Power 5 college football game. Katie Hnida, placekicker for New Mexico during the 2003 season, remains the only woman to score points for a division one football program.

Even prior to COVID scratches, Vanderbilt has had trouble finding a consistent kicker all season. Graduate transfer Oren Milstein, who holds six school placekicking records at Columbia, opted out because of the pandemic.

This left the majority field goal kicking duties to junior Pierson Cooke who is 3-for-7 this season. Second-string placekicker Wes Farley is 6-for-6 on extra points but has no field goal attempts. And junior Javan Rice has yet to appear in a game.

Kicker Sidebar Inches Line in Vandy’s Favor

Fuller’s appearance is quickly becoming a bright spot for Vanderbilt’s COVID-fractured winless (0-7) season and it seems her presence is drumming up interest at the window.

Though winless, Vanderbilt is 4-3 against the spread this season and has covered three games in a row. Missouri is 4-2 ATS and coming off a cover last week against South Carolina. The game is a reschedule as Missouri’s week 13 game vs. Arkansas was postponed due to COVID-19 contact tracing.

Vanderbilt opened at +14.5 but action in the wake of the Fuller announcement has them at +13.5 at most sportsbooks. Kickoff is noon ET on the SEC Network.