| Willamette Bearcats — No. 39[1] | |
| Kicker | 1999 |
| Major: Biology | |
| Date of birth: 1977 | |
| Place of birth: Richland, Washington | |
| Height: 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) | Weight: 120 lb (54 kg; 8 st 8 lb) |
| Career history | |
|---|---|
| High school: Richland High School | |
| College(s): Willamette University |
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| Bowl games | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| First female athlete to both play and score in a college football game. | |
Elizabeth "Liz" Heaston Thompson (born 1977) is an American athlete who is the first woman ever to score in a college football game. She accomplished this feat on October 18, 1997 as a placekicker for the Willamette University Bearcats, which was competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).[2] She also played women's soccer for Willamette. Heaston's accomplishment was widely noted by the media and the sports community.
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Heaston was raised in Richland, Washington. After graduating she enrolled at Willamette University, where she became a star soccer player, earning All-American honorable mention in 1996 and 1997.[3] In 1997 she joined the football team as a backup placekicker. She became the first woman to play and score points in a college football game in a match between Willamette and Linfield College on October 18, 1997. The 5-foot-5-inch, 120-pound soccer player entered the game as a replacement kicker for Willamette and kicked two extra points as her team won 27-0.[3] Heaston's football career lasted two games; she made two of four extra point attempts.[4][5][6]
The following year Heaston played only soccer at Willamette, and graduated with a biology degree in 1999.[3] She attended graduate school at Pacific University where she earned a doctorate in optometry and met her husband Trent Thompson.[3] She has one daughter, Isabella, and a son and lives and works in her hometown of Richland, Washington, where she works at her father's optometry office along with her husband.[3]