STARKVILLE — Alvaro Pichardo couldn”t wait on the “big names” to recognize his talent.
For much of his senior year, many Division I schools expressed interest in the Starkville High School striker but failed to make a written offer.
Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., was the only one to put an offer in writing, and Pichardo thought that would jump-start the scholarship process from other schools.
The traffic, unlike his trademark pace through opposing back lines, was sluggish.
Instead, Pichardo accepted an offer from NAIA powerhouse University of Mobile (Ala.), where he”ll play with former Yellow Jacket Josh Shields.
Pichardo said he”s firm in his verbal commitment to Mobile, even if North Carolina-Greensboro or Clemson present an offer by the end of the semester.
Mobile won the 2002 NAIA national championship. They went 17-4-2 last season and advanced to the semifinals of the national tournament for the seventh time in school history.
While an offer from another Division 1 school is a possibility, Pichardo had a March 20 deadline to commit and/or sign with Mobile.
Pichardo saw too much promise in Mobile to take a chance on passing up the offer.
“I was really interested in going to see those schools, but what if I say no to Mobile and I get hurt?” Pichardo asked. “Mobile is also a great program — ranked No. 2 in NAIA — so it”s not like I was going somewhere bad. It”s still tough knowing that all those schools are going to come and see me play but I”m already going to Mobile.”
Pichardo won”t be the featured striker for the Rams, who return freshman forward and 20-goal scorer DeShorn Brown. Pichardo likely will play as a support striker behind Brown, but he also can play central midfield or on either flank.
Pichardo said he can settle quickly at attacking midfielder based on his experience at that position with the Olympic Development Program Regional Team, which is made up of 12 Southern states. Pichardo was one of 46 players in last season”s regional pool, and was a part of the 18-man squad that competed in December at the four-region tournament in California. He started two out of three games and had two assists.
The progress Pichardo made from being a goal scorer early in his career to a more complete player will help him make a smooth transition to the midfield at the next level, as his overall speed might hinder him from playing center forward, Starkville High coach Brian Bennett said.
“The decision-making process of when to pass and when to attack space and when to take on defenders and when to take over games really came to light the last couple of weeks (of the season) when we had some of our tougher games and he really performed well,” Bennett said. “Earlier in his career he wanted to take on more defenders on the dribble because of his talent, when a pass may have been a better option, but you can see a total soccer player developing before your eyes the latter part of the season.”
Pichardo led the team with 17 goals and 11 assists and was vice-captain behind midfielder Price Day.
He spearheaded an offense that produced 94 goals (14 allowed) and helped Starkville go 16-2-1 and advance to the second round of the state playoffs.
A constant club and school performer, Bennett is surprised more Division I schools haven”t offered Pichardo a scholarship. He believes Pichardo”s age, 17, might have thrown off many D I coaches who have seen him play ODP or club ball, as they think he”s still a junior.
“He has a lot of growing still to come and has a real passion for the game,” Bennett said, “so I think Alvaro”s ceiling is higher than most can imagine, and he can definitely play on the best collegiate level there is.”
Though he”s firm in his commitment and has already received his scholarship paperwork and National Letter of Intent, Pichardo didn”t rule out a move to Division I if it helps his pro or national team chances.
“Anytime I can do something that will get my stock up, I will do that,” Pichardo said. “In the future, anything can happen. But right now Mobile is the place where I want to go.”
Pichardo, who was born in Nicaragua, wants to earn a call up for the United States Under-19 National Team in the near future. He turned down the chance to play for Nicaragua”s U-17 National Team last season in favor of playing ODP ball.
At Mobile, Pichardo will join close friend Shields, who started 20 of 22 games as a defensive midfielder last season. Shields will be a senior next season.
“We started training together when he was back last summer,” Pichardo said. “He”s a really good player and works extremely hard.
“Whenever we played with the guys at the Sportsplex in pickup, we always played on the same team and talked about how fun it would be if we played on the same college team.”
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