FC Tucson starts season with fiesta, Kelly Pierce tribute match

At 7:15 p.m. at Kino North Stadium, the Men in Black will face Seleccion Tucson XI, a local all-star side, followed by a fireworks show. Before that, the FC Tucson Women will join the early-season friendly action for the first time when they play against the Kelly Pierce All-Stars, a team made up of players the late Pierce coached and played with at 5:30 p.m.

“I think people are starting to make it like an annual tradition for themselves, it’s really what we wanted for the Tucson soccer community and it's a great celebration of the game,” said FC Tucson president and technical director Jon Pearlman of the launch festivities. “I think it's become a big thing and we're really happy that we're adding the women to that celebration, as well, this year and we hope to continue to grow it and continue to give it the excitement that it deserves."

Pierce died in August after the FC Tucson senior teams had finished their seasons.

She won back-to-back state championships at Salpointe Catholic in 1998 and 1999 before playing for Pima College, the Sonoran Thunder and Tucson Soccer Academy FC (which would eventually become FC Tucson Women). She played for FCTW until 2019.

She was the head coach at Mountain View High School, Salpointe and FCTW. She won six state titles over eight years with Salpointe and coached FC Tucson from 2019 to 2023.

FC Tucson will retire her No. 14 jersey at halftime of the women’s game.

“We wanted to integrate the women’s team into the celebration to begin with and obviously, we further wanted to honor Kelly by retiring her jersey and honoring her, her life and her work with FC Tucson,” Pearlman said. “Her passing didn't come at a time where we had a real chance to sort of arrange a proper honoring testimonial match, so now that we’re able to do that, we're really excited to have our players who played with her or for her honoring her and then our team playing against them.”

Meanwhile, the men will feature prominent FC Tucson alumni like Edgar Reyna and Donny Toia, who played for Real Salt Lake, Chivas USA, Montréal and Orlando in the MLS. Previously, Reyna and Toia played for Selección Tucson, but since most of the FC Tucson players are college students they decided to enlist alumni before the school year ends.

“This year, Edgar and Donny are going to play for us, which was something that we wanted to make sure that when we didn't have all of our players that we were featuring key top alumni, that have come through our program and honoring them by appearing on our side,” Pearlman said.

Before the men’s match, they will also honor former head coach John Galas, who died in March. He led FC Tucson when they were a professional team and also served as an assistant for the UA’s varsity team.

Homecoming

With Iran set to come to Kino Sports Complex to train ahead of the World Cup, Saturday’s matches might be the only time FC Tucson plays at Kino North Stadium this season, but the team will play at a familiar venue.

FC Tucson will move its matches slightly north to the Kino North Grandstand. It’s not only next to the North Stadium, it was FCT’s first home.

On that pitch, FC Tucson played against future U.S. National team forward Gyasi Zardes, as well as Real Salt Lake. Prominent former FC Tucson players like Toia and LAFC defender Aaron Long, who also played for the national team, played there.

According to the club, things like the audio, seating, lighting and WiFi have been upgraded at the grandstand.

“It was the first fortress and the home of the 2012 team, which was an amazing team,” Pearlman said. “Many great games have happened on that field, many great moments for our team, including goals against RSL, we played them in the preseason.

“So again, the grandstand is a historical field, we’ve added to it, we’ve clammed it up,” he added. “It's going to be a really tight, incredible environment with VIP seating and really close quarters — those opposing teams are really going to feel the noise and the intensity of our fans and so we're really excited about the opportunity.”

Assuming Iran remains in the tournament, it will train at Kino until potentially the Round of 32. Team Melli is scheduled to play New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15, Belgium in L.A. on June 21 and Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

If IR Iran gets knocked out in the group stage, FC Tucson could play at the stadium again this year.

FC Tucson will train on some of the numerous other fields at Kino, sometimes moving south of Ajo Way near the Tucson Sugarskulls’ and Tucson Saguaros’ territory.

Swiss/Bosnian giveaway

FC Tucson is holding a drawing for two tickets and a flight credit from Tucson International Airport for Switzerland vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 18 in Inglewood, California.

A men’s or women’s season ticket package gets an entry into the drawing.