JACKSON, Ms. (WAPT) — Before breaking the internet as the first woman to ever play for a DI HBCU, Leilani Armenta had been kicking for almost as long as she could walk.
"I started soccer when I was five. So, I mean, this has been a life goal of mine," said Armenta.
Her football story started her freshman year of high school with a coach who believed in her. During her freshman year of college at Jackson State, it was the same story with a different coach.
"T.C. Taylor was very, very supportive," said Armenta.
Armenta made 98 out of 105 extra points in her high school career.
She was a conference first-team kicker, her junior season beating out a player who went on to kick collegiately at the University of Berkeley. But on the soccer field before her senior year, she had an injury that almost derailed her in both her favorite sports.
"And when I was there at the showcase, I ended up tearing my right ACL and I felt like after that, like my world just kind of collapsed," said Armenta.
After a football season played on her torn ACL, Armenta got surgery.
"In the back of my head was like, 'Well, am I gonna be good enough? ...Am I gonna be the same player when I was healed and got that final clearance from my surgeon?'" said Armenta. "I was like, 'I've worked so hard to get back to where I was that I'm not gonna just throw the talent that I had away.'"
After just nine months post-surgery, she stepped up for her team.
"My back was against the wall," she said.
She recalls her return to the field and the added pressure she felt.
"...I just feel like regardless of the type of kick I did, the media was gonna be on me because of being a female first time at an HBCU," she said.
Social media did pile on Armenta, despite her kick before being pulled for leg soreness being the longest for Jackson State in the game.
"...it doesn't really faze me. And if it really was that easy, or if it wasn't a great kick, like by all means, go and do it. Like there's a reason that I got called, there's a reason that I'm practicing," said Armenta.
With all the hate and all the judgment, Armenta keeps going and continues rehabbing. Her goal is to return to the football field to show what she can do.
"...I'd rather take all the hate just for one, you know, person to feel like, 'Wow, she really made a difference,'" said Armenta.
