Haley Von Voorhis, 5’6, 145-pound junior safety at Division-III Shenandoah University, made history on Saturday when she became the first woman to play in an NCAA football game who was not a kicker or punter. When she was young, Haley would watch the Washington Commanders with her mother, Heidi, on TV. One day when she was a toddler, Haley asked her mother, “Why aren’t there any girls on the field?” To which Heidi replied, “I don’t know why.”
Haley has shown interest in football since she was young and would always tell her parents that she would one day be on the field as a player. Haley has been playing against boys since the fifth grade when she joined a coed flag football team. She was the only girl on that team and she became the first girl to play high school football at Christchurch where she was named captain her senior year. Haley settled on Shenandoah after several Division III schools recruited her. She practiced daily, played in scrimmages and JV games, and played with the D.C. Divas in a women’s pro league.
This came true for Haley when she stepped onto the field with less than a minute left in the first quarter to rush the opposing team, Juniata’s, quarterback. Haley managed to get through and sack quarterback Calvin German right after he released the ball on what ended up becoming an incomplete pass. After the game, Haley said, “I just wanted 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.” Haley’s head coach, Scott Yoder, said, “She’s been a very positive member of our team. She’s very good mentally and understands her role. I have confidence in her that she knows her job and can execute it.”
Haley making football history as the first woman to step on the field as a non-kicker or punter is a step for women everywhere. Haley herself recognizes this and her message to other young women who want to play football is this: “Don’t listen to people who say don’t do it. Don’t be scared. Just go at it with everything you can.”
