Manitoba's Turner to become 1st woman to play in regular-season U Sports football game

Team breakfast, game-plan meetings and visualization time in her locker room.

The morning and afternoon of Aug. 25, 2022 was nothing out of the ordinary for Maya Turner. She knew where she needed to be and what she needed to do ahead of her pre-season game visiting the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. But the University of Manitoba Bisons kicker's story is about what she didn't know that day.

Just a few short hours later at Saskatoon's Griffiths Stadium, Turner would unknowingly make fans witnesses to history.

Down 10 points with just over eight minutes remaining in the third quarter, Bisons head coach Brian Dobie sent out the field goal team with Turner on third down — a 25-yard attempt to score Manitoba's first three points of the year. As Dobie watched Turner set up her kick, he recalled feeling "a lot of things … some of them were a little personal, too."

Snap, hold, kick.

The ball sailed through the uprights, and Turner became the first woman to score points in a U Sports football game. The sideline erupted.

And she didn't even know what had just happened. Turner said Manitoba's sports information coordinator Mike Still was the first to make her aware of the gravity of her field goal after the game.

"[Still] told me 'you know you're the first woman to score points in a U Sports game?' I was like, 'oh my gosh, like really?' … it was really exciting and an honour to be able to be in this position and be able to do that."

The historical moment in Saskatchewan last year was not her first time kicking a ball at a high level.

Taking after her sister, Turner began her college sports career playing soccer at Loyola University in Chicago. But heading into her second pre-season with the team in the windy city, she decided