The goalkeeper for Marshalltown girls soccer suited up on the offense in the second half and scored her first varsity goal, part of an offensive flurry for the Bobcats in a 10-0 romp over South Tama County/East Marshall at Leonard Cole Field.

The Bobcats (9-4) have won five games in a row, and for Chavez Gomez, as one of the nine senior varsity girls honored for Senior Night on Friday, it was a memorable experience.

“I don’t think I’ve ever run that fast in my life,” Chavez Gomez said. “I’m just filled with so much emotion.”

No matter where you are on the pitch, you can probably hear Chavez Gomez directing traffic and offering encouragement to the offense from her spot in-between the posts of the Bobcat goal.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown sophomore Lilyia Christen (8) and South Tama/East Marshall’s Mikayla Large (24) battle for a free ball in the box during Friday’s soccer match at Leonard Cole Field.

“I love it when the girls shoot,” Chavez Gomez said. “And I’m always back there celebrating when they are.”

Friday allowed the senior keeper an opportunity to experience it for herself.

“She spends a lot of time working on her craft in goal,” MHS head coach Stacy Galema said. “Clean sheets are important, but it’s exciting to get to do something a little bit different and reward her, it was good to see her get out there in the field.”

She made the most of her chance, too, not only scoring but meeting up with second-half goalkeeper Sophie Valdez Chavez to do a little celebration dance for the KFJB-TV cameras after her goal.

“She’s my little cousin, and she had scored one goal this year and instead of celebrating with me back in goal, she celebrated with another player,” Chavez Gomez said. “So I told her if either one of us scored tonight, we would go and celebrate together. She chose the celebration and since it was Senior Night, I just went with it.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown senior Deanna Hernandez Carranza (20) is bumped off the ball by South Tama/East Marshall defender Abigail Chyma during Friday’s match. The play resulted in a penalty kick for MHS.

The Bobcats spread the offensive glory plenty on Friday — Sara Huffman scored three goals including her state-leading fifth successful penalty kick, and Yuri Ramirez, Gissel Hernandez, Carroll Gomez Reyes, Alexia Garcia and McKenna Coleman all had one goal each.

“Our goal from the beginning was to have a complete game,” Galema said. “We played well from the start, which we haven’t done the last couple of games so it was good to see them be aggressive from the beginning.”

South Tama County/East Marshall fell to 1-11 on the season and will finish the regular season with home games against Benton and Oskaloosa next Tuesday and Thursday.

Marshalltown’s senior class endured back-to-back one-win seasons as freshmen and sophomores, and now have assured the Bobcats will finish the regular season with at least a .500 winning percentage for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

“COVID was like a program reset,” Galema said. “It felt like we were starting over. And these girls that are seniors now, they took that challenge. We played seven freshmen that first year and they really took it to heart and continued to believe in the back of their heads that they had a lot to work for, that they were young.

“Now this is a complete class, we’ve got every position covered, and off the field they’re involved in clubs, activities, and I think this is the highest average GPA the program has had in a very, very long team. They just take care of what they need to do and help each other along the way.”

There’s a lot of soccer left, starting with Ames at Marshalltown Community College on Monday, but Huffman and the seniors can definitely see the end of the road on the horizon.

“We know next year’s team is going to be a lot different,” Huffman said. “So we’re just trying to savor this game and get a win because we know we’re not going to play together very much longer.

“I know there’s more games left, so I’m not too sad — but hearing everyone’s plans and knowing we’re not going to play together next year, that part’s kind of hit me.”

Ames has dominated the matchup history with the Bobcats, including outscoring the Bobcats 25-1 in the last three seasons.

“We’ve got to limit their opportunities,” Galema said. “I think our defense has been our strong point as of late, so hopefully they can have a great game Monday, and then we just need to look for our own offensive opportunities and not settle for outside shots.”