As one of FC Tucson’s players from Southern Arizona, defender D’andre Pickett felt a certain obligation.
Pickett felt duty-bound to share a certain restaurant chain from Tucson with teammates from countries like Scotland, Ireland, England, Switzerland, Brazil, Slovenia, Germany and Colombia.
“They didn’t have Eegee’s,” Pickett said. “I thought that was really weird so I had to show them Eegee’s.”
On the soccer pitch, Pickett has gone from FC Tucson Youth to the FC Tucson Pro Academy to the first team, earning All-State honors at Tucson High and All-American honors at Pima College along the way.
Pickett
“He’s been developing,” said FC Tucson head coach Sebastian Pineda. “I’ve had D’Andre for two, two-and-a-half years now and he’s grown so much, so I’m proud of him to see how he’s developing.”
Pineda also coaches FC Tucson’s academy side and played for the Men in Black when they were in the Premier Development League (now USL League Two, where they play again).
He said the goal of the club is for homegrown players like Pickett or midfielder Brandon Sanchez to get consistent minutes for the first team. Sanchez also played youth soccer in Tucson, then played for Canyon del Oro High School, the FC Tucson pro team, the academy and Pima.
For Pickett, playing for the first team is a dream come true.
“When I was younger I was always looking up to those guys, just inspired, pushing myself everyday trying to get to that next level and to finally be here, just keep my mind down and working,” Pickett said.
Pickett has played in seven of FC Tucson’s eight games, starting three. In the 5-1 win over Redlands FC, he won Man of the Match and scored.
“I was kinda too excited,” Pickett said about his goal. “I didn’t know what to celebrate with, I was just trying to hype up the crowd, yeah it was awesome.”
Pineda, who played at Graceland University, coached at Duquesne and now for the UA women, said the Pima players are learning little details from their teammates from around the world.
“I think it’s been great, because I came in finishing up the spring at Pima just ready to learn,” Pickett said. “You have people from like Scotland, England, Colombia, just ready to learn, to be a student of the game and just not get too high when the highs are high and not too low when the lows are low, so just ready to learn all the time.”
Pickett lived in Sahuarita from kindergarten to freshman year of high school before moving to the Old Pueblo to play for Tucson High’s prestigious boys soccer team.
“I realized I needed a bigger challenge so I moved to Tucson High and then my whole family made a sacrifice and moved to Tucson with me,” Pickett said.
Tucson High reached the Class 6A semifinals three times when he was there, and in his in junior and senior years, they entered the playoffs of the highest conference with a No. 1 ranking.
His move to the first team of FC Tucson came with no shortage of Aztec teammates. In addition to Sanchez, forward Ismael Ruiz and defender Mateo Soto were also freshmen at PCC last season.
Ruiz and Soto also went to Tucson High.
“It’s great,” Pickett said, “it’s kinda too great, because I know their moves already and they know my moves already so I can’t really try anything new on them. It’s great though, I love those guys.”
After thinking about transferring for his sophomore season, he is expecting to return to PCC in the fall. Sanchez was also an All-American.
“It felt great,” Pickett said. “Obviously we tried to win that national championship, that would have been a lot better, but I think I did great personally and that rides til next year because I think I’m going to stay at Pima again and we’re going to try to bring (home) the national title.”
Corner kicks
FC Tucson beat the Southern California Eagles 6-0 on Friday, six days after it beat Redlands 5-1. The five different goal scorers against Redlands was an FC Tucson regular-season record until six players scored against the Eagles.
With last week’s win, FC Tucson moved into third place, two points behind second-place AMSG FC. The top two sides in the Southwestern Division make the playoffs.
The FC Tucson Women (4-1-2) rallied to get a point against Royals AZ on Saturday. Defender Leigha Dobbins scored in the 76th minute against the Royals to get the draw. FCTW is two points back of first-place SC del Sol.
FC Tucson Women forward MacKenzie Moring, who plays during the academic year for the University of Arizona NCAA Division I soccer program, scores her first of three goals against RSL Southern Arizona in a 5-0 FCTW win May 29, 2024 at Tucson High School. (James Kelley, Special to the Arizona Daily Star)
