Good Pursuing Two Dreams in the Med City
7/3/2025 8:40:00 AM | Soccer
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri soccer's Keegan Good is not your typical athlete. A standout on the field as the leading goal scorer in the Tigers' returning roster, she spent the spring semester studying for the MCAT to pursue her dreams of attending medical school.
This summer, Good continues to combine her two passions. The senior is residing in Rochester, Minn. playing for Rochester FC and interning at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic.
Nicknamed The Med City, Rochester's future forever changed in 1864 when Dr. William Worrall Mayo established his private practice.
"Doing research in a world-class hospital is an opportunity unlike anything I could have imagined for myself," Good said. "Being surrounded by innovation and people with a deep commitment to patient care has taught me so much in such a short amount of time and I'm so grateful to be here. Knowing that the projects I'm working on will directly impact patient outcomes is a rewarding and exciting experience."
For most people, a full day at the clinic is enough for one day, but shortly after wrapping up her shift, Good trades in her scrubs, dons a royal blue jersey and heads to practice with the semi-pro soccer club competing in the USL W League.
Dr. Rafael Sierra is a part-owner of the club who spends his days as an orthopedic surgeon at Mayo.
"My two partners were the ones that started the club in 2018," Dr. Sierra said. "There are two Bosnian-born nationals. They moved here as young kids to Rochester. One of them played professionally in Germany when he was growing up and the other played here in college at St. Mary's, and then played for Minnesota United. They started the club primarily as another option for the youth clubs. Now the club has grown to not only having a youth system, but also USL W and USL 2 pre-professional clubs."
Competing in the league's Heartland division, Rochester holds daily practices and competes twice a week against teams across South Dakota, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The workload is not new for Good, who, after anchoring the Tigers' midfield during the fall campaign, charted her medical path this spring, but the combined workload nearly broke her.
"At first, I was crashing out every day after practice, literally in tears, no matter how I played, it did not matter, I would be in tears," Good said. "I could not figure out why I was like that. I was just burnt out. I eventually found a schedule that worked for me, but it was a lot. I was also in biochem physiology and physics two while also studying for the MCAT and playing soccer. It was just a lot. It definitely tested me. Do I really want to do this? It was the first moment in undergrad when it was genuinely difficult. I was like, well, if I can make it through this, I must really want to do this, because it was not easy at all."
Good is not alone in her path; her father, James, was driven to pursue his own medical path and currently works as a podiatrist in Gladstone, Mo.
That drive has been passed down and is the spark that fuels her both on and off the field.
"I'm just an insanely competitive person, and not even necessarily like other people, but just with myself," Good said. "I just know that I'm capable of so much. I like to demand it of myself. I just wake up every day, and I'm like, you got to lock in and do it. Especially this spring, it was just take it one day at a time. Wake up, go to school, do your studies, go to practice and go to bed. Soccer definitely plays a huge role in my competitiveness and my determination."
Good is still figuring out her preferred medical specialty, but with a long-held passion for art and science, plastic surgery looms as an intriguing possibility.
For now, with the final decision over four years away, Good is earning her stripes on Dr. Sierra's research team, analyzing X-rays and patient charts.
"Keegan does a lot of data abstraction, data analysis, and then she has been involved with some abstract writings," Dr. Sierra said. "She has her name on two or three different abstracts that were submitted to our American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons."
When the summer comes to a close, Good will return to Columbia for her senior season, a place where she has already made a lasting impact. However, this year, there will be a few more Mizzou fans walking the halls of Mayo and cheering on the Tiger that had a lasting impact on them.
"Her tenacity, it's very hard to become a Division I athlete," Dr. Sierra said. "To be able to work hard and at the work ethic that comes along with that, really builds an incredible physician."
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