(Andy Morales / AllSportsTucson)
LINK: FREE PHOTOS OF FC TUCSON WOMEN
PHOENIX – FC Tucson Women beat SC del Sol 3-0 on Wednesday evening at Reach 11 Sports Complex in Phoenix, claiming the second conference championship for the program in the last three years of competition. Former head coach Amy Garelick led the team to the 2018 Pac South Championship, with the current head coach Kelly Pierce by her side, and Pierce used some of her own magic to lead her roster to the Desert Conference title this summer.
Priscilla and Laura Pimenta, the outstanding @MVHSMtLions and @ArizonaSoccer, were with @fctucsonwomen along with @ coach_kel14 pic.twitter.com/iRcNi1dy7t from the start
– Andy Morales (@ AndyMorales8) July 8, 2021
Pierce was one of the original players in the 2013 opening season, along with current players Priscilla and Laura pepper and then Brianna Barreiro joined the program in 2014. That foundation proved solid and became the cornerstone of a program that requires strong leadership on the pitch.
“Our chemistry is important, and as you know, vocal guidance is very important to me,” said Pierce. “We have this with our seasoned players and players who came from other programs and they respond as a team to this leadership.”
Pierce took the reins when Garelick retired after that 2018 season and the program continued to look upward until the 2020 season was canceled by the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) due to the pandemic and the impact of that cancellation this summer with the Decision continued by the WPSL to cancel a league playoff due to ongoing travel restrictions and rising travel costs. Instead, the WPSL will recognize each of the conference winners this summer.
Haley Harris on the far right scored the winning goal. (Andy Morales / AllSportsTucson)
The team is full of experience, but it also has a very important injection of new talent like the former Cienega standout Haley Harris. Harris graduated from high school in 2020 and took her South Arizona Player of the Year award to Embry Riddle, studying Global Securities and Intelligence, and she scored the winning goal in the third minute to put the women in black Wednesday evening 1-0.
Luz Duarte in the 48th from parking lot 3-0 @fctucsonwomen https://t.co/kNE8THdhLW pic.twitter.com/9mOWN8ulSu
– Andy Morales (@ AndyMorales8) July 8, 2021
If the WPSL has an all-star team this year, then it will Easy Duarte should be on this shortlist. Duarte is a dribbler and a goalscorer and she scored two more goals on Wednesday night. She scored from 20 yards on the 14th and from about 30 yards on the 48th. Both goals came after the SC del Sol believed they had stopped a Tucson onslaught, but Duarte was never considered. Their second goal was completed with a few tricks with the ball to further confuse the Phoenix defense.
Tucson FC women’s goalie Hope Hisey saved three times from eight shots from Phoenix and Tucson shot eleven shots, nine of which were on target.
“When I saw our potential, I told every player we were going to do this right,” added Pierce. “Be in shape. Be committed. I knew we would be successful. “
Tucson improved by 19 points to 6-0-1 over the year and SC del Sol fell to 2-3-1 and 7 points. Had there been a playoff this summer, Tucson would be battling for the top seed from the West Region, specifically with three more points slated for a game in El Paso on Saturday, July 10th at 12pm. The expansion team is currently 0-6-1 for the year, but it’s fair to believe Pierce is already as focused on this game as he is on the first game of the year.
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Andy Morales was named Best High School Reporter by the AIA in 2014, received the Ray McNally Award in 2017, a 2019 AZ Education News Award winner, and has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. He was the first in Arizona to write about high school beach volleyball and high school girl wrestling. His own children have won several state high school championships and have been called to all-state teams. He competed in hockey, basketball, baseball, and athletics in high school and his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the voting member of the Ed Doherty Award in Southern Arizona, which recognizes the best football player in Arizona, and was named a Local Hero by Tucson Weekly in 2016. Andy was named Honorary Flowing Wells Caballero in 2019 and is a member of the Amphi COVID-19 Blue Ribbon Committee. Contact Andy Morales at [email protected]
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