It went out on the Twittubes this morning: FC Tucson has signed former RSL forward Donny Toia.
Former Pima College standout Toia had no playing time for the full RSL squad last season, but got time in the reserves. He was cut by the team back in February and played a few preseason tune-ups for FC Tucson and scored a couple of goals.
When he started playing here, I was told that this was strictly short term. The plan was that he was on his way to the Pittsburgh Riverhouds. I have a call in to Rick Schantz to find out if that didn’t work out or if the playing situation is just better at FC Tucson.
In any case, a fantastic addition to the squad. The press release is below:
Tucson, AZ (Thursday, April 26) — FC Tucson announced it signed its first player of 2012: forward Donny Toia. Toia is a Tucson native, who recently spent time with Real Salt Lake.
“Having a player of his athleticism, his experience and his talent at only 19 years old is really just a great signing,” said FC Tucson General Manager Jon Pearlman.
Donny Toia most-recently spent time with MLS side Real Salt Lake. Toia was signed as the first Home Grown player in Real Salt Lake history on March 14, 2011. He was a part of the RSL U-18 side that represented MLS at the JRS World Cup-Comunidad de Madrid (U-18 Club World Cup) competition in Madrid in May 2009 and the U-17 side that finished undefeated and in 3rd place at the 2009 SUM Cup. In 2010 Toia attended Pima Community College, scoring 7 goals and adding 5 assists despite missing much of the season due to injury.
Toia attended Canyon del Oro High School in Oro Valley and won to back-to-back 4A Arizona State Championships during his junior and senior seasons. Over that time he scored an astonishing 65 goals. In his final high school game, Toia scored all 4 of his team’s goals in a 4-1 championship win.
“It’s great just to be here back home,” Toia said. “It’s nice to just drive down the road and practice instead of going somewhere out of state or going to Phoenix or Casa Grande. I love it.”
