Salpointe head girls soccer coach Kelly Pierce passed away on the night of August 1.

 

I met Kelly sometime in the summer of 2013. I knew she had won two state championships playing soccer for Salpointe before playing for Pima and then the Sonoran Thunder of the WPSL. She stepped away from the game to raise her children but she kept in shape by playing indoor soccer.

At 32, Kelly was the best player on what was the inaugural Tucson Soccer Academy FC WPSL team in 2013. A few of the younger players, just beginning adulthood with all the physical abilities that go with that, were overtly jealous of Kelly. Had Kelly played now, she would have went to a Division I program for sure.

The All-Southern Arizona selection as a defender for the Lancers, Kelly was also an All-ACCAC selection for the Aztecs. Tyler, Brady and Camden came along and she earned All-American honors as a mother, what she would tell me was her most important “defensive role of her career.”

Kelly was named to the All-WPSL team as a defender at the age of 32. That summer, I convinced her to go into high school coaching because her position as a player-coach with head coach Amy Garelick Speder was evident.

“Kelly was the heart and soul of our Tucson youth soccer scene,” Speder told me. “She was a huge player and coach who carried on the Salpointe legacy. She left her mark on so many players and families. It’s a huge loss for our youth soccer community.”

Amy began our phone conversation this morning telling me she was hoping it was somehow untrue but the greatness we all witnessed on the pitch, and later, from the bench, was almost equally unbelievable. Kelly’s life and passing have meaning and the tears tell us it’s true. Oh, how I wish to be not true,

Kelly led Mountain View from 2013 to 2017 when she left to take over the Salpointe program after Becky Freeman brought stability and a championship to the program before retiring. Kelly went on to lead the program to six state championships as a coach including this past season.

Kelyl Pierce at Mountain View Marana. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

KELLY PIERCE FILE

1998: State Champion (Salpointe)
1999: State Champion (Salpointe)
2000: All-ACCAC (Pima)
2002: Sonoran Thunder (WPSL)
2014: All-WPSL (TSA-FC Tucson)
2014: All-West Team (TSA-FC Tucson)
2014: Pacific South All-Star (TSA-FC Tucson)
2018: Salpointe State Championship (Coach)
2019: Salpointe State Championship (Coach)
2019: Desert Division Coach of the Year (FC Tucson)
2021: Salpointe State Championship (Coach)
2021: Desert Conference Championship (FC Tucson)
2021: Desert Conference Coach of the Year (FC Tucson)
2022: Salpointe State Championship (Coach)
2023: Director of Coaching of BVB International Academy
2023: Salpointe State Championship (Coach)
2024: CDO Soccer Club Director of Coaching
2025: Salpointe State Championship (Coach)

“She was a great competitor,” Salpointe athletic director Phil Gruensfelder told me. “She wanted the best for her athletes and she will be greatly missed. I was amazed at how much of a student of the game she was as a coach. I remember her playing for every ball and competing as a player and she brought that with her as a coach. She watched endless game film and was always looking for that edge, that advantage.”

Kelly would often text me before a match and after to see how I felt about her team. My response to her was always the same, she knew a million times more than me about soccer and I trusted her to always pull through because I’ve seen her coach and I knew her as a person. I knew she would win. I often told her to stop worrying. Rest.

Kelly didn’t like being filmed or interviewed and I mostly went with her wish but she offered this gem when she coached her 100th high school victory in 2022”

“It's humbling. It's exciting, but it's a good start to the season, obviously. I don't want to get emotional but it’s been a long journey. I'm happy to still be here and still be a part of it and to be successful. If it wasn't for obviously the support of my family and always having great coaches from my Mountain View days to the beginning here and all the way through, and players that believed in what I was selling and families gave me just a ton of support. It's a process and I'm really happy.”

Her family, led by her grandmother Lucy and mother Donna, came to every match. They took up a great portion of the stands. Her father, Keith, passed away at the young age of 58 in 2016 and I could see a change in Kelly. We became closer as if she was searching for something and I gladly answered every text and every phone call because I am still in that state since the loss of my own father.

Not only would she text me about strategy or how well she was doing on the pitch, she asked me to tell the other media members that her last name was Pierce, not Kearns. I think they slowly caught on. She asked me to help her in her role with FC Tucson Women and I gladly sponsored her players for a few years. She asked me a lot of private things that will remain private.

As much as I already miss Kelly, I know there are others much closer to her that will be reminded daily, if not hourly, of the pain of her loss. The weakness of our humanity makes it impossible for me to relive that pain. The strength of our humanity gives me the ability to try.