A top defender herself, FC Tucson Women head coach Kelly Pierce preaches defense as a way to victory and that philosophy has never failed her with multiple championships as a player and a coach. A 1-0 victory at El Paso Surf on Saturday night was set in motion by a steal from All-Desert Conference defender Priscilla Pimienta on a throw-in 62 minutes into a scoreless match.
Pimienta turned and hit a streaking Ashly Martinez from 20 yards out and the newcomer broke across the grain to her right and she let it fly in the face of a defender with nothing but the strings of the net stopping the ball.
“Coach told me what my job was today and I knew when I stepped on the field that meant I had to score,” Martinez said. “I had to execute, so I’m happy I could do that for the team.”
ASHLY MARTINEZ GIVES US THE LEAD 🤯
TUC 1-0 EP#fuerzatucson 🌵 | #EPvTUC pic.twitter.com/XzWroO1HIK
— FC Tucson Women (@fctucsonwomen) May 29, 2022
FC Tucson Women outshot El Paso 8-3 in the second half with Hope Hisey coming up with 3 saves in the goal in the deciding frame.
Martinez was a former member of the U15 and U17 Mexico National Team and she represented her country in the CONCACAF tournament in Orlando, Florida. The midfielder played for Club Santos Laguna in LIGA BBVA MX Femenil during its 2019-20 Apertura season, scoring three goals in 11 appearances and she plays for Arizona Western.
FC Tucson Women won the Desert Conference Championship last year with a record of 7-0-1 and the team is now 1-0 this summer with El Paso Surf (0-1) paying a return visit this Friday, June 3 at 7 p.m. at Kino North. The rest of the Desert Conference will start play on Saturday night.
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NOTE: FC Tucson Women is now 13-0-1 in the last 14 matches dating back to 2019.
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Named one of “Arizona’s Heart & Sol” by KOLD and Casino del Sol, Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014, he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017 and a 2019 AZ Education News recognition. He was 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 girls wrestling and his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is a Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Andy was named an Honorary Flowing Wells Caballero in 2019, became a member of the Sunnyside Los Mezquites Cross Country Hall of Fame in 2021 and he was a member of the Amphi COVID-19 Blue Ribbon Committee. He earned a Distinguished Service Award from Amphitheater and he was recognized by City Councilman Richard Fimbres. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
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