Breaking Barriers: Mylee Hansen’s Historic Kick for Monmouth Football

By: Forgottonia Times™ Report

There are certain sports we have for just males, and there's certain sports we have for just females. Softball is for women, baseball is for males, and some sports like basketball and soccer have both. But how often do we see these sports mix it up? I would say in small-town Illinois, we don't see big changes like that happen very often, or even ever. Then Mylee Hansen, a two-sport athlete at Monmouth College and a high school graduate from Pekin, came along.

Hansen made history by being the first-ever female player for the Monmouth Football team. Hansen is a defender on the Monmouth Scotts Soccer team AND a kicker on the Monmouth Scotts Football team. This season, she scored her first-ever point in football and made history in front of a crowd of over 2,000. The game was against Lawrence University; Hansen was called in to score one extra point to make the score 52-6.

Balancing two sports isn't easy by any means. But Hansen makes it look easy while also being a role model for young girls and other female athletes wanting to accomplish something big like Hansen is doing.

2024 has been an amazing year for female athletes. We can see this right here in Forgottonia with Mylee Hansen, across the Mississippi with former Iowa basketball player Caitlin Clark, and even at the Olympic level with rugby player Ilona Maher. These female athletes have created an image for young girls and women in sports. What's unique about Mylee Hansen isn't just the fact that she's a woman in a male-dominated sport but also that she owns it. While she is still only a freshman at Monmouth College, Hansen has already left her mark and made a difference.