After a gap year, Charlotte Latin soccer standout is happy to be back

Parker Rubinacci went to one Charlotte Latin boys’ soccer match last season.

“It was a tough experience,” he said. “I realized that I missed it. I didn’t see another match.”

After a sophomore season in which Rubinacci had scored nine goals and six assists, he decided to spend last fall instead of concentrating on his youth club team.

“Coming back was a no-brainer,” he said.

Rubinacci, a 6-1 senior striker, is back in the Charlotte Latin lineup this season — and he is making his mark.

Through the middle of last week, he had totaled 11 goals and three assists. He ranks No. 6 among N.C. high school soccer players in goals scored and is the leader from the Charlotte region. Rubinacci has scored at least once in each match, helping the Hawks get off to a 7-0 start.

“I reached out to Coach Searles in the offseason and asked if I could come back,” Rubinacci said.

Coach Kyle Searles, in his third season as Charlotte Latin head coach, remembers exactly when Rubinacci called him.

“It was the day of the girls’ state finals,” Searles said. “It was the only good thing that happened that day.”

Searles also coaches the Hawks’ girls’ team, which lost 3-1 to Providence Day in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association finals in May.

He said Charlotte Latin already had a strong team returning this fall, but adding Rubinacci has made things better.

“Anytime you get a guy like Parker back in the program, it’s big,” Searles said. “He’s been in some big games here at Latin.”

Searles said Rubinacci has changed since the last time he wore a Charlotte Latin uniform.

“He’s different from two years ago,” the coach said. “Now he brings an intensity to every practice and every game. Everyone on the team was excited about him coming back.”

Rubinacci, who moved to Charlotte from the Philadelphia area in sixth grade and transferred from public school to Latin in ninth grade, said his Hawk teammates have accepted him warmly.

“We’ve always been close,” said Rubinacci, who will attend Emory University next year. “I’ve been friends with these guys, and even when I wasn’t with the team, we stayed in contact.”

He said he’s noticed a difference in the team compared with two years ago.

“It seemed like people were more interested in individual effort when I was a sophomore,” he said. “We play more as a team this year.”

“The chemistry is really better,” he said. “I knew these guys well before, but now I know them even better.”

Rubinacci said the first match this season, a 9-0 rout of Queen’s Grant Charter, “felt great.”

“It felt like a new team,” he said. “It was really a lot of fun to be with these guys again. There had been a gap since my sophomore year. I was glad to be back.”

Rubinacci made his mark quickly, scoring three goals in the opening match.

Choosing between high school and club athletic teams is a problem for many athletes. Rubinacci said he doesn’t have any rock-solid advice for others facing the same decision.

“It’s never an easy answer,” he said. “I had been playing with the same club team (Queen City Mutiny) for six years. And I had close ties at Latin.

“Talk it over with people, as much as you can,” Rubinacci said. “Communicate with both teams. In the end, though, you have to decide what feels right for you.”