Drake women's soccer player Zoey Mahoney is a social-media star after her crazy goal

Drake women’s soccer player Zoey Mahoney first got a sense of the attention her acrobatic goal had created when she went into the locker room for halftime during the match on Sunday.

That’s when injured teammate Lauren Kullberg grabbed her phone and told Mahoney about how the NCAA had already posted a highlight on social media about the unusual score.

“I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is already out there and everything,’” Mahoney said. “But I just didn’t think it would get as far as it did.”

The first-period goal against Northern Iowa has been the buzz of social media and the soccer world all week. Mahoney, standing on the far sideline, performed a front flip and unleashed a perfectly placed throw-in near the Northern Iowa goal. The plan was for it to be a pass to possibly open up a scoring opportunity for one of her teammates. Then the throw itself ended up being a goal when Panthers goalkeeper Caitlin Richards was unable to knock it down.

“It’s something we train, just like a corner kick,” said Drake coach Lindsey Horner. “It’s such a weapon.”

It’s a unique tool that the Bulldogs can employ thanks to Mahoney’s background in gymnastics. The Waukee Northwest alum said she first got the idea of trying the flip throw-in when she saw an opponent do it during a club game. Mahoney pitched the idea to her club coach, who was on board with trying it. She went to work on perfecting it with her dad, Mike Mahoney, a former Major League Baseball catcher.

“We would just go in and do front handsprings or try to do a handstand on the ball — just trying to figure out the different mechanics of it to get it going,” she said.

Mahoney eventually perfected it and started trying it in high school matches. She was a star at Northwest, earning 2023 Gatorade Iowa Girls Soccer Player of the Year honors after tallying 20 goals and 17 assists.

When she got to Drake, Horner and the rest of the soccer staff figured it was something they could try. They first tested it out during a rainy exhibition game at Western Illinois on Aug. 9. The play didn’t work that day. But it went according to plan against Northern Iowa and turned Mahoney into a social-media star as the video clip went viral around the world.

The play was posted to Drake’s YouTube channel, and as of Friday morning it had generated 3.9 million page views. For Mahoney, the monumental moments were when ESPN and "Good Morning America" picked it up. ESPN's "SportsCenter" made it the No. 1 highlight in its Top 10 Plays.

More:Watch: Unbelievable flip throw by Drake women's soccer player is 'SportsCenter' top play

 “Those were really like a wow moment like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is getting really big and it’s crazy,'” Mahoney said.

Mahoney said it was the first time the play had led to a goal without an assist being needed. Drake plans to keep utilizing it. In fact, the Bulldogs did it again Thursday night with Mahoney’s throw-in led to a goal from Layla Kelbel with an assist from Emma Nagel.

So, the question everyone is asking: Why is the play so successful?

Partly because it’s so distracting to the opponent.

“It definitely puts our team in a more dangerous position because it makes it more of a corner kick instead of just a regular throw-in because of how far into the box it gets,” Mahoney said.

Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.