How two women made football her-story on the same day
Maya Turner and Haley Van Voorhis blasted past milestones and opened doors for women in football
Maya Turner of the University of Manitoba Bisons kicked her way into football history on Sept. 23. Turner became the first woman to play─and score points─in a regular season U Sports football game.
Turner scored the game-winning field goal in double-overtime against the University of Regina Rams while defying expectations on a field of exclusively male peers.
“She didn’t just have to do her job and be another player,” beamed head coach Brian Dobie in a locker room speech. “She had to be under the stigma of, ‘She better hit it’ because if she doesn’t [they would say], ‘Oh well, they gave this girl a chance and look what happened.’”
Turner, from Maple Grove, Minn., had also previously nailed a field goal in the second quarter, recording her first points and giving Manitoba a 3-2 lead.
It was undoubtedly a historic week for women in football and university sports. On the same day, Haley Van Voorhis became the first female non-kicker to appear in a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football game. Van Voorhis played safety for Shenandoah University on Saturday, Oct. 7, and helped her team defeat the opposing Juniata College Eagles.
Van Voorhis and Turner both hope to set an example. Van Voorhis told The Washington Post: “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.”
Turner echoed this sentiment when she told The Canadian Press: "I think it helps seeing other women do it, just to see that it is possible."
These two athletes continue paving a path forward while following in the footsteps of past trailblazers.
In 1997, Liz Heaston, a kicker for Willamette University in Oregon, became the first woman to play and score in an NCAA game. More recently, in 2021, Kristie Elliot became the first Canadian woman to play and score in an NCAA football game for Simon Fraser University.
These events―and these women―represent larger implications for women in sport, as representation simply matters. Players like Van Voorhis and Turner are showing women that they have their place playing in even traditionally male-dominated sports like gridiron football.
Furthermore, according to UNESCO, playing sports is always beneficial for women: “The positive impact that sports can have on the emancipation of young girls and women has been acknowledged for decades.”
Despite the success of these athletes, some have predictably expressed their discontent with seeing women competing on the field. Under the same NFL post that celebrated Turner's achievement on Instagram, some simply asked, “Why should we care?”
Not only were Turner and Van Voorhis on the field, already making history, but they also succeeded, silencing anyone who wanted to make less of their achievements. Turner and Van Voorhis are crushing moulds and opening doors for future generations of girls who dream of playing football—at any position. That’s why everyone should care.
