Parkdale Grad Clarke 'An Asset' to North Carolina Wesleyan's Soccer Team

Even before Alambi Clarke ever suited up for ’s boys soccer team, Panthers coach Dalitso Chinkhota was already well aware of Clarke’s immense talent.

Clarke played for Bladensburg during his first three seasons of high school prior to transferring to Parkdale for his senior year.

He was a Gazette-Star second-team All-County selection as a junior at Bladensburg in 2009, a season during which he squared off with Chinkhota and the Panthers.

“He was an integral part of Bladensburg’s offense,” Chinkhota said, “and we could see in that game that he was an excellent player that could be great at both the high school as well as [eventually] at the collegiate level.”

And over the last two years, Clarke has confirmed that belief.

Chinkhota estimated the Clarke scored “around 15 goals” as a senior forward for the Panthers last year, playing a major role in the team advancing all the way to the Class 4A South regional final.

And now, Clarke is proving capable of excelling at the collegiate level as well.

Although he’s yet to score a goal, Clarke, now a freshman forward at North Carolina Wesleyan, has seen action in six of the Battling Bishops’ first eight games and even earned a start during the team’s second game of the season.

The early success comes as no surprise to Battling Bishops coach Frankie Taal, who saw Clarke play multiple times even prior to his arrival at North Carolina Wesleyan, mostly at the club level.

“Just seeing him at the club level, I knew he was someone that was going to be able to come in and help us immediately,” Taal said. “And then, during the preseason, he just continued to show signs of improvement and it didn’t take us long to realize that he was a kid that would be able to play some minutes for us.”

Taal describes Clarke as “what I would call a true soccer player. He understands the game, is very technical, very skilled and just has a good understanding of how the game should be played.”

He said Clarke still has areas he needs to get better, and needs to improve his overall strength and conditioning, but is very excited about Clarke’s long-term upside.

“He’s still young, and is still learning the college game,” Taal said, “but he’s an outstanding young player that I think, with time, will adapt and adjust and will be an asset to our program.

North Carolina Wesleyan, a perennial power at the NCAA Division III level, is 94-24-10 during the past seven-plus seasons and has won three USA South regular season championships, as well as two USA South tournament championships, during that span. The team’s also qualified for the NCAA tournament four times, advancing to the Sweet 16 twice, during that same stretch.

Clarke, while hopeful of earning individual accolades as well, says his primary focus is helping the Battling Bishops maintain that consistently high level of play.

“This is a very good soccer program,” Clarke said. “I’m just going to play my role and just want to be able to be on the field and making an impact. As a team, all we care about is winning the conference tournament, getting to the national tournament and winning a national championship.”