Carolina Ascent's Riley Parker has a need for speed

CAROLINA ASCENT

Carolina Ascent forward Riley Parker's professional soccer odyssey has taken her from Louisville, Kentucky, to Mexico and Tampa Bay before arriving in Charlotte.

When Gainbridge, a financial services company, decided to cross-pollinate their relationship as USL Super League’s title sponsor with its NASCAR race team sponsorship in North Wilkesboro, Riley Parker was there representing the Carolina Ascent. 

To hear Parker talk with such passion about the experience on a recent USL Super League Game Week show with Anna Witte and Marion Crowder, it’s plausible that if any of her teammates tried to take the invitation, they might have paid the price in a training scrimmage.

“They were rolling out the red carpet for us,” Parker said. “I had to show up. I had to show out. This is what I’m built for. I think in another life I might have been Ricky Bobby. I like to go fast.”

The detailed discussion Parker engaged in about the intensity of her fashion choice calculation for the All-Star race, including her rationale for deciding not to go with her western movie hero-size white Stetson, is representative of how focused and deliberate she is as a professional soccer player. 

“I felt this one would be like a walking billboard too much,” she said. “This is my hard hat, but this is for fall, winter. I already feel like I stick out probably a little bit. So, I was like, ‘maybe I should try to reel it in as much as I can.’ I hate to let people down.” 

After Carolina clinched the Players Shield trophy for the best regular season record, Parker told Witte about a childhood dream to be a race car driver. She posted on her Instagram page, “can confirm that the NASCAR All Star Race revitalized 9-year-old Riley’s future career aspiration.” 

Witte later asked Parker how she ended up a pro soccer player instead. The tale reveals what you need to know about Parker’s personality.

“You know, I don't know where it all went wrong. I just think the calling was soccer,” she replied before pivoting. “So OK, I'll tell you where it went wrong. We have some land out in east Texas. My sister's three years older than me, and when we were young, my dad would let us drive around when we could reach the pedals.

“My sister Molly always got to drive until I finally got tall enough to get to practice. So, I got in for the first time in my dad’s truck, and I am pumped, because I love to go fast. I had a go-kart, and it’s just like the pedal is on the floor the whole time. 

“Nobody told me that when you get into an actual car, that you don’t go pedal all the way down to the floor. It doesn’t take a whole lot. But I also didn't care. So, I got in, and my sister and my friend were in the bed of the truck, and I just put the whole pedal on the floor. My sister and my friend hit the back of the truck, and they were like, ‘slow down! Slow down!’ And I was like, ‘I can't; I’m a race car driver.’ 

“I wasn't allowed to drive again until I was 15, so I think honestly, my potential was stifled, and I blame my parents.” 

Coming to Carolina

Parker, who started the season with Tampa Bay, joined the Ascent in January, where she was reunited with Ashlynn Serepca, with whom she played at Alabama in 2022. 

It was a banner year for the Tide, winning both the SEC regular season and making the NCAA College Cup for the first time. Parker, who came back from an ACL injury, was named an All-American and a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist. The Flower Mound, Texas, native set a school record with 17 goals while Serepca was second with 10.

It was a big year even before the season as Parker, previously known as Riley Mattingly, married her college sweetheart, John Parker, a former Crimson Tide football receiver. 

Riley Parker was drafted 31st overall by Racing Louisville FC in the 2023 NWSL Draft. She was loaned to Tigres UANL, a professional women’s club in Liga MX Femenil, Mexico’s top tier. 

“They just had a lot of people in the forward position, so they loaned me out to the team in Mexico,” she said. “I was only there for about three days of the Louisville preseason. So, I never really had a chance to integrate into the team and or even demonstrate what I could do.

“I'm really grateful for my time at Tigres. I absolutely loved it, the fans, the culture. It was a lot of fun, and then when I came back to Racing, I think it was just that they had too many players, so they waived me. It was just kind of one of those things again. Wrong time, wrong place, but still good.”

Her husband has been a source of strength.

CAROLINA ASCENT

Riley Parker harbored childhood dreams of becoming a race car driver, but soccer took her on a different path. She's still a racing fan, though, taking in a promotional campaign at NASCAR's All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro.

“John is the best,” she said. “We actually tried to get married when I was a sophomore at Alabama, and my dad was like, ‘not happening. You have to graduate first.’ And so I graduated, and two days after we got engaged.

“I told him, when we first were talking about getting married, it's been my dream to play professional soccer ever since I was a kid and I’m just going to let you know that there's a lot of moving around that's involved.

“Little did I know how much, actually. But I asked, ‘are you willing to follow me, and come with me? I was so scared because this is going to be make or break. He’s not going to date me; he’s not going to get married. And he was, ‘yeah, OK. And I was like, it’s one thing to say it and it’s another thing to do it. He’s just been awesome coming with me everywhere. He’s never complained a single time. I don’t love moving, but I think he likes it.”

It was an unexpected blessing when Parker learned she had nerve damage in a hamstring that would require surgery to correct. She had the time to recover then signed with the Tampa Bay Sun in April 2024. She logged 423 minutes across 10 games with six starts. Since coming to the Ascent, Parker started all 13 matches she played, averaging 77 minutes per game. Her numbers don’t stand out, but Carolina coach Philip Poole has her starting because of the intangibles she brings to team chemistry and identity on the field. She’s scored once, against  Lexington, her first in the Super League, but it came in a league record 97 seconds. She also has two assists.

Parker appreciates how Poole “has given me the opportunity to really help me come in and maybe make a difference. It may not be with stats, but just like making my teammates around me better and maybe bringing out the best in them. 

“Pooley has really trusted me and given me an opportunity to show a little bit more what I can do. Tampa was a super fun place, but some places, it just doesn't work out. This has just been a better fit for me, soccer-wise.

“Ever since I started playing pro, it’s been kind of rough. Going to Racing and then to Tigres and back to Racing and getting waived, and then going to Tampa, and not really being a good fit for Tampa. I think back on all of that, and was it the most fun for me? Probably not. but I met a lot of great people, and I definitely can look back now and see why God had me going all of those places, and that there was a plan.

“I got to fall in love with soccer all over again when I came here. So, I'm appreciative for all of those lessons, and I wouldn't count any of them as defeats. I think it was just lessons that I needed to learn.”
 

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