EVERETT, Wash. — The state's newest professional sports team is already making history.
Not only is the Washington Wolfpack the newest team in the Arena Football League (AFL). It's also the first team in the league's 30-plus-year history to have a woman play in a game and score points.
“History-making, anytime you're the first to do something it's cool,” Melissa Strother said. “I think it's more important for me that I'm not the last."
And this won't be the last history-making moment you'll hear from Strother this season playing for the Washington Wolfpack, which is based in Everett.
"It's been a long journey to get here," Strother said. "It's been a difficult path filled with a lot of obstacles but I'm so happy to be here."
The 41-year-old is the team's newest kicker. She became the first woman to ever play Sunday and score points in an AFL game. She converted on all three of her extra points.
"I'm one of one,” Strother said. “Which sounds like it's a good thing, but I'd rather have there be a lot of professional football players, female football players because they work extremely hard and they deserve it.”
She's been in love with football her whole life, dedicating years to the sport.
"I've played 13 years in women's football," Strother said. "That was with the California Quake, San Diego Surge and the U.S.A National Team. My first season in men's football was Rapid City Marshals and now I'm Washington Wolfpack."
She hopes her story won't be the first or last, of a woman playing football in a men's professional league.
"It's a path I want to pave for others to follow,” Strother said. “If they love this game and they want to play, knowing that it's possible. That's what's important to me."
The Wolfpack's next game is Saturday at the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett at 3 p.m.