PHOTO PROVIDED - Marshalltown High School senior Brianna Medina Gomez, seated center, recently signed her National Letter of Intent to play soccer at Marshalltown Community College. With Medina Gomez for her signing ceremony were her parents Juliana and Landon Deeter, MHS head soccer coach Stacy Galema, standing at left, and MCC interim women’s soccer coach Allie Osmundson, standing at right.

Marshalltown senior Brianna Medina Gomez wasn’t originally planning on playing soccer after her senior year concluded in May.

But a new opportunity presented itself with the announcement of a women’s soccer team at Marshalltown Community College. When new MCC head coach Allie Osmundson reached out to her about potentially joining this new team, things changed and now one of Marshalltown’s senior leaders will be heading across town to play for the Tigers next season.

Medina Gomez was pleased to have her next chapter figured out.

“It definitely feels like a relief because before I didn’t really know where I was going to go,” Medina Gomez said. “This opportunity opening up definitely made it easier on me because I just knew I had to take it.”

The central midfielder has played the past two seasons for the Bobcats and has emerged in her senior year as a consistent starter under MHS head coach Stacy Galema, starting six of the team’s first seven games and appearing in all seven. Galema has said that Medina Gomez is one of the returners they lean on, and she was pleased to hear about her opportunity with the Tigers for the next two years.

“She’s spent a lot of time in our program,” Galema said. “She’s one of those people that just comes, does her work and stays focused. She buckles down, puts her head down and gets after it. I’m excited for Allie and MCC to have her and to kinda see what she can do at that next level.”

When this opportunity came across for Medina Gomez, she was already considering MCC for another reason — their nursing program. A first generation student, her goal for a post-graduate career is to become a labor and delivery nurse, helping mothers bring children into the world. She plans to take prerequisites for the program next year.

This is something the senior has been working towards, and she was fully intent on following this path — whichever college it would lead to.

For there to be a chance to continue playing, particularly close to home where she’ll be able to have her parents come watch her often, is a happy cherry on top.

“It definitely feels really amazing because my mom didn’t want me to leave to a faraway college because I’m first generation,” Medina Lopez said. “She definitely wanted me to stay close. So her telling me that she wants me to take this opportunity and that she believes in me and is proud of me, it feels really good.”