Lila Jaster, the first female player to score in a South Lakes High School varsity football game, has accepted a full scholarship to Hollins University near Roanoke to play NCAA women's flag football.

Jaster, a Reston resident and recent South Lakes graduate who played five sports for the Seahawks, plans to compete at middle linebacker, according to a profile published in The Reston Letter.

The scholarship caps a high school career defined by Jaster's willingness to try anything. She played soccer, varsity football as a kicker, basketball, wrestling and flag football at South Lakes. Wrestling became her favorite sport; she qualified for the Virginia High School League girls' state wrestling tournament.

But it was a Friday night under the lights that put her name in the record books. On Sept. 13, 2024, Jaster converted a point-after attempt to become the first female player to score in a South Lakes varsity football game.

"I remember my brother had this solo part in the band that night, and he forgot to play because he was so pumped up about my point," Jaster told The Reston Letter. "That night, I really felt like my team was supporting me."

Jaster credited her soccer coach Todd Shea with encouraging her throughout her athletic career and said fellow female player Emily Brown helped her feel welcome on the South Lakes football team.

When girls flag football arrived in Fairfax County in 2025, Jaster joined South Lakes' inaugural team. The new sport opened a college path she hadn't expected. She drew recruiting interest from Radford University and George Mason University before choosing Hollins, a Division III school in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference that began competing in women's flag football in spring 2025.

Jaster said she picked Hollins because it offers a varsity program, while many larger schools compete only at the club level.

The timing aligns with a national surge. In May, the NCAA Committee on Access, Opportunity and Impact voted to recommend that Divisions I, II and III add a national championship for women's flag football, with the first tournament targeted for spring 2028, according to USA Today. More than 60 schools sponsored the sport at the varsity level in spring 2026, per NCAA President Charlie Baker. Women's flag football will also make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Jaster told The Reston Letter she hopes to return to South Lakes and support the Seahawks' flag football program as it grows.

What's next: The NCAA plans to form a Women's Flag Football Committee in January 2027 ahead of the sport's first national championship in spring 2028. Hollins is one of nine Virginia schools with a varsity flag football program.