Francesca Picicci closed out her stellar University of New Hampshire soccer career last fall by helping lead the Wildcats to their first appearance in the America East tournament championship game since 2014.
Last week, Picicci followed up her senior season with quite an evening at UNH's 4th Annual Senior Showcase and A Night at the WESPYs at Lundholm Gymnasium.
She was a double winner on the night of May 10. Picicci received the Tina True Award for her accomplishments and leadership in the strength and conditioning room early in the evening.
Later, she was honored as the female winner of the prestigious Jim Urquhart Student-Athlete Award, recognizing the most outstanding senior athlete for the year, based on athletic success, community involvement and academic achievement.
"Wow, what a special night for our program and 'Cheech,'" said women's soccer head coach Steve Welham. "What a night and what a great way to cap off a wonderful career had here by a wonderful young lady. She goes after everything with a full heart. Her father (James) drove her up and back from Long Island on the same day so she could be here that night. I commend the whole family. They've been amazing supporters of our program that way. I'm so happy for her and for them." Director of Athletics Marty Scarano presenting Picicci with the prestigious Urquhart Award
Picicci, who is from North Massapequa, N.Y., has been back on Long Island, first doing an internship to finish up her undergraduate degree. She then was hired to do medical scribe work by the same organization, which does preventative screening with firefighters and first responders to try and detect any issues they may have from exposure to toxins during 9-11 or from other situations they face in their line of work.
Her assignments lead towards her dream of becoming a physician's assistant. She got home from New Hampshire at 2 a.m. on Wednesday and later that day submitted her first application for physician assistant's school. She hopes to begin school in the fall of 2023.
It's a goal she's had since early in her high school days when she was dealing with her own injuries.
"I started poking around in the health care field when I was always in the athletic trainers' room when I had compartment syndrome, trying to figure out how not to be in pain," Picicci said. "I was always interested in helping others. I wanted to learn everything possible. Someone asked f I had looked into being a PA and I said I had never heard of it. I started researching it and decided it was what I wanted to do. My whole undergraduate career has been working toward this moment, submitting applications to PA school."
Picicci has jam-packed what she can into her life – often side-by-side with teammate and fellow two-time captain Casey Peterson - all along the way.
"We hit it off from the first time we met on our official visits and have been best friends since," Picicci said. Picicci receiving the Tina True Award from Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach Trent Talmadge at the WESPYs.
Picicci keeps a busy schedule.
"My goal is always to do it all," Picicci said. "I want to have as many experiences as possible. UNH gave me that opportunity. I wanted to work. I wanted to do well in school. I wanted to be a leader on the team. I had to have a strict schedule to make it all possible. It's the way I live my life. I love the stress and demand to get everything done."
She worked for Convenient MD when it hired UNH students to test fellow students, faculty and staff for COVID-19, often in four-hour shifts to fit around practice and games, but at times in 12-hour shifts on the weekends. She was a three-time America East All Academic selection, was on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAC) and volunteered on the medical-surgical floor at Portsmouth Regional Hospital.
There were some bumps and injuries along the road.
One came late in her sophomore season in a home game against Stony Brook.
"A tough ball came in and got away from me and a defender came in and hit me and I went down," Picicci said. "My knee popped and it did a lot of damage, both to the meniscus and ACL."
The good news, she said, was that UNH beat Stony Brook, a team it didn't beat often, that day.
She hit rehab hard after surgery, one of the reasons she earned the Tina True Award.
"It derailed her sophomore season and put her back some the next season, too," Welham said. "It slowed her for a big hunk of time in the middle of her career, but she didn't let it stop her. She put her time and effort into the weight room. A lot of players have work ethic and she has work ethic to a different level to the point it shows and everyone knows it. She goes above and beyond and she was a weight room leader as well as a team leader."
Everything came back around her senior season, Picicci said.
The Wildcats were struggling in conference play and had to go to Stony Brook for a game they needed to win.
"We hadn't won there in like 10 years," Picicci said.
She scored the first two goals of the game and assisted on the third in a 3-0 win.
"It all came full circle and it was like this is my revenge," Picicci said.
UNH went on to edge Stony Brook out for the sixth and final spot in the America East playoffs and the Wildcats went on a run to the championship game and gave Vermont all it wanted before falling 1-0 on a late goal.
Picicci made the all-tournament team and was All-Conference First Team and it was a nice way to finish her playing career. Picicci at the women's soccer team banquet
Then came the Senior Showcase where she became the first women's soccer player to win the Urquhart award since Chiara Best in 2005.
Not bad considering her first introduction to UNH, back when she was in high school and received an email from Welham asking about her interest and inviting her to visit.
"Should I go," she asked a friend in the lunch room at school. "Why not?" they decided.
"I stepped on campus and knew it was meant to be," Picicci said. "I just knew from the environment, the people, that this is where I have to be. I thank God every day I ended up here. It was the best five years ever, even through all the ups and downs."
