Ornella Vignola had a debut to remember on Sunday, hitting a hat-trick to help Everton to a Merseyside derby win over Liverpool in the Women’s Super League.
Ornella Vignola enjoyed a memorable WSL debut on Sunday, helping Everton win their Matchday 1 Merseyside derby over rivals Liverpool at Anfield.
She scored three goals in the 4-1 win, becoming the first men’s or women’s player to score a hat-trick for Everton in the Merseyside derby for 94 years, replicating Dixie Dean’s feat in 1931.
The Uruguayan-born Spain Under-23 international joined Everton in July, moving from Liga F side Granada. She only scored three goals in 28 league appearances in Spain last season, so she’s already matched that in 2025-26 despite playing just once in the WSL.
Vignola became just the second player in WSL history to score a hat-trick on her competition debut, matching the feat of Kiko Seike in September 2024 for Brighton & Hove Albion against Everton.
Ornella Vignola Hat-Trick
At 20 years and 342 days old, Vignola is just the fourth player to score a WSL hat-trick before turning 21.
Georgia Stanway holds the record, scoring her first treble in the competition aged just 17 years, 210 days in July 2016 for Manchester City vs Sunderland, before scoring another in October 2018 vs Brighton at 19 years, 291 days old. Beth Mead (20y, 70d) and Omorinsola Babajide (20y 308d) are the only other players to score a hat-trick in the WSL before their 21st birthday.
Vignola is the youngest hat-trick scorer for Everton in the WSL, with Toni Duggan (21y 318d), Chloe Kelly (22y 4d) and Hayley Raso (26y 204d) all older when scoring theirs for the Toffees in the competition. Her treble was also the seventh scored against Liverpool in WSL history, with only Reading and Bristol City (both 8) conceding more.
The forward’s first goal was the pick of the bunch. With Liverpool leading 1-0 in the 24th minute, Vignola picked the ball up in a wide position over 40 yards from goal, before twisting and turning Ceri Holland and sending a sensational curling strike past Faye Kirby in the Liverpool goal. It was her first shot in the WSL, and she would go on to score all three of her attempts on her debut, adding two more goals in the 54th and 56th minutes of the game.
Now that is how you score in the derby with style ✨
Ornella Vignola with an absolutely incredible strike on her @EvertonWomen debut 🤩#BarclaysWSL pic.twitter.com/QFDiXi2A5t
— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) September 7, 2025
Everton face Tottenham Hotspur on MD 2 next weekend and Vignola will be looking for more goals.
The WSL record for most goals scored in a player’s first two appearances is held by Rachel Williams, who scored five times across her first two games in the competition. After a brace versus Bristol City in April 2011, she added a hat-trick six days later against Liverpool for Birmingham City.
If Vignola is to break that record, she’ll need another hat-trick in her next appearance. Only three players have scored hat-tricks in consecutive WSL appearances: Fran Kirby (February-March 2019), Jill Roord (September 2020) and Khadija Shaw (December 2023 – January 2024).
It’s now all eyes on Goodison Park next Sunday to see if Vignola can create history.
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