Kickin’ It With The Boys Female Soccer Player May Get Chance To Make History On College Football Field

A standout female soccer player is suiting up for Willamette in Saturday’s football game against Linfield College.

“I’ve always wanted to know what it’s like to be out on a football field,” said Liz Heaston, 20, of Richland. “This is a great opportunity for me, and I’m really excited.”

The junior placekicker is hoping for a distinction that has eluded one woman at Duke University and another at Louisville.

Heather Sue Mercer was told she had made Duke’s team in 1995 after she made the winning 28-yard field goal in the team’s spring scrimmage. But the kicker was left off the team once coach Fred Goldsmith trimmed his roster that summer. She filed a sex discrimination lawsuit last month.

Kathy Klop suited up for Louisville’s Cardinals in 1995, but never got into a game.

NCAA and NAIA officials were not aware of any other cases in which a woman had practiced with or suited up for a four-year college football team. There are no NAIA or NCAA rules prohibiting women from participating on a football team.

Unlike the women at Duke and Louisville, Heaston never approached the football coach and asked if she could try out for the team.

Bearcats coach Dan Hawkins, whose team is 5-0 and ranked fifth nationally in the NAIA, approached her because he needed someone who could kick extra points.

“She asked me why I wanted to do this,” Hawkins said. “I said, ‘Hey, I think it would be fun, I think it would be a great statement for women, a great statement for football, and a great statement for Willamette football.”’

A defender on the school’s women’s soccer team, ranked No. 14 in NAIA, Heaston has a soccer match at noon Saturday on campus. She will join the football team at nearby McCulloch Stadium well after the kickoff.

“My first priority is soccer and to play well here,” Heaston said, “and then get the job done on the football field.”

Jim Tursi, Willamette’s soccer coach, is apprehensive about loaning one of his best players to the football team. Heaston is a big reason the women’s soccer team has posted nine shutouts in 13 matches. A three-year starter, she was voted honorable mention All-America in 1996.

“She’s putting our team at risk, but mostly putting herself at risk” of injury, Tursi said. Heaston’s parents asked her coach to talk her out of it, but they’ll be there Saturday for both games.

Tursi believes the football coach has an ulterior motive.

“I think the football team is doing it because it wants some publicity,” Tursi said. “They’re having a good year, and they don’t get the press.”

The 5-foot-5, 120-pounder has practiced with the football team only a handful of times.

“She can boot the ball,” said Randy Wood, a defensive lineman. “She came out and kicked the other day. There were three or four kickers, and we didn’t know who was kicking from one time to the next.”

Joey Kennedy, the Bearcats’ holder on extra points, also is impressed.

“She doesn’t have the same strength as the other kickers do, but she’s just as consistent as them, if not more,” Kennedy said. “She’s pretty much right down the middle.”

Whether Heaston will play Saturday will depend on several factors, including the score of the game and how much time is left, Hawkins said.

“We’ll just get a feel for it and see where it’s at,” Hawkins said, adding that he has confidence Heaston can get the job done. “If we get the snap, get the hold and get the protection, I feel pretty good she’ll make it.”