Hannah Mitchell, goalkeeper for the UCLA women’s football team, made an incredible save during the team’s season-opening match.UCLA came up against UC Irvine in their first match of the Pac-12 Conference season, going 3-0 up within 20 minutes of action. For the next 70 minutes, UCLA successfully defended their lead, only conceding once in the dying moments of the game.It could have been a different story, however, if Mitchell had not made an incredible save with 10 minutes left on the clock.The goalkeeper had got herself in a difficult situation after leaving her penalty box for a bouncing ball over the top of the UCLA defence. Mitchell went to kick the ball away but missed, leaving the UC Irvine forward with a free shot at an open goal.Mitchell quickly realised her mistake and sprinted back to her goal, managing to catch up with the ball which looked certain to cross the line. She dived on to the floor and parried the ball away, preventing a UC Irvine goal which would have made for a nervy final 10 minutes.

Mitchell’s save, which can be watched here, has now gone viral on social media after it was shared by NBC Sports, Just Women’s Sports, and Bleacher Report. It also topped CBS Sports’ Top Play poll, earning 70.3 percent of the votes.

The save has been described as "unbelievable", "amazing" and "incredible", although some social media users joked they would have hoped Mitchell would be able to make such a save after deciding to come out of her goal.

Mitchell, born in New Jersey, is a redshirt sophomore at UCLA. Despite her American origins, she is eligible to play for Scotland, and was called up to the country’s under-19 squad in May 2019.

The emerging star has cited former US goalkeeper Hope Solo and former college football player Inky Johnson as her role models.