STARKVILLE — Alvaro Pichardo”s college recruitment officially ended Wednesday when the Starkville High striker signed a scholarship with the University of Mobile.

The decision put to rest any chance he”d sign with any of the schools that had hoped to secure his services. 

When Pichardo gave a verbal commitment to Mobile three weeks ago, he said he had no regrets about turning down written offers from Lipscomb University or the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and spurning interest from North Carolina-Greensboro, Clemson, and Memphis. 

On Wednesday, Pichardo”s certainty was stronger.

“I”m going to a great place,” Pichardo said. “They have players who are gonna go professional. It”s a really good area, too.”

Pichardo will participate in the Dallas Cup, the oldest international youth soccer tournament in the United States, in two weeks. He”s sure to receive more attention from coaches who don”t know he has signed with Mobile. 

A 17-year-old senior, Pichardo was listed on his club team”s web site as a junior, so most of the schools interested in him thought they had another year to recruit him. 

“You get recruited more from your club team than your high school team,” Starkville High coach Brian Bennett said. “He”s just now starting to get the e-mails from Wake Forest.”

Now that he has made his college decision, Pichardo will focus on improving his strengths. He wants to get better at playing with his back to goal because he won”t be able to dribble by three or four players at the next level. 

He projects as an attacking midfielder at Mobile, where he”ll likely be a set-up man for 20-goal scorer DeShorn Brown.

Mobile won the 2002 NAIA national championship and went 17-4-2 and advanced to the semifinals of the national tournament for the seventh time in school history last season.

Pichardo said he can settle quickly at attacking midfielder based on his experience in 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 at the four-region tournament in December in California. He started two out of three games and had two assists. 

Pichardo will continue to play for his club team, Central Jackson Soccer Organization, where he joins Starkville High teammates Kase Kingery and Addison Watson.

“It”s gonna be fun to do that,” Pichardo said. “Those are the guys that helped me the most in practice. To play against them in practice, it steps your game up.”

Pichardo scored a team-high 17 goals and had 11 assists to lead Starkville to a 16-2-1 record and a berth in the second round of the state playoffs. He was instrumental in helping Starkville score 94 goals this season and splitting games against division rival Tupelo.

“Keep the other team from scoring and we”ve got a good shot to get that (a game-winner) out of Alvaro,” Bennett said. “We play completely different when he”s not here. He”s a dangerous player. You can have a mediocre team, but if you got a good player like that you got a chance in any game. I like scoring goals, so I like Alvaro.”