FC Tucson prepares for match against experienced FC Arizona side

FC Tucson had a big victory on Friday night with a 5 - 1 win against a soccer team drawn from the local Guanajuato league. It wasn’t necessarily the strongest opponent, but it was an important bit of preparation for the upcoming league season.

“We only had a couple of days to train and learn certain concepts,” said coach Mark Biagi. “There were really a lot of positives last Friday… I was able to see players in a game environment, which is the best way to see players perform.”

The team has one more tune-up on Saturday with a match against FC Arizona before they start the league season. FC Arizona plays in the National Premier Soccer League, a league that plays in roughly the same level as FC Tucson’s USL League 2.

East Valley-based FC Arizona made the conference final last year, losing to league finalist Crossfire Richmond 4 - 0. They have already been doing well this season, undefeated in all three matches.

Biagi has been able to scout the team a little bit and some FC Tucson players are familiar with some FC Arizona players. That plus some online highlight videos give a bit of specifics, but mostly he knows that this will be a tough test.

“(They’ll) bring some consistency,” he said of the team that has made the playoffs every year they’ve been in the league. “It will give us a test, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Wednesday’s match gets underway at 7 p.m. at Kino North Stadium.

Former Tucsonense moves forward in Open Cup

Christian Volesky made six appearances for FC Tucson back in 2014. Although he was drafted by the Portland Timbers, his only field time with a first-division team was a season playing for Iceland’s Knattspyrnudeild Keflavíkur. Mind you, that hasn’t stopped him from scoring against a top-level opponent.

Volesky’s current team, Monterey Bay FC faced off in a U.S. Open Cup match against San Jose Earthquakes on April 28. His 26th-minute goal proved to be the game-winner against a team that has otherwise had a good MLS season.

The fact that Volesky had the goal doesn’t come as a surprise to FC Tucson general manager Jon Pearlman who says Volesky has “a striker’s instinct.”

“He reads passes very well… he punches turnovers in the defensive third. He has a real instinct for when a mistake is going to be made,” Pearlman said of the man he recruited for FC Tucson in 2014 and coached during his time at Oklahoma City Energy. “He’s pretty low maintenance.”

Volesky’s instincts will be tested on Tuesday night when his team faces off against LAFC, who have only had one loss in league play this season. Of course, that loss was to San Jose, the team that Volesky and Monterey already beat.

Women hold try-out

FC Tucson’s women’s side has their first home match on June 2 against El Paso Surf. That leaves enough time to find some new players.

The team will be holding an open try-out on May 14 from 9 - 11 am at the Kino North Grandstand. More information can be found at https://www.fctucson.com/womens-team/trials/.