Soccer: Zach Lubin of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is headed to Italy

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s soccer team had an outstanding freshman last season in Zach Lubin. He started every game. Now he’s been selected to go to Italy to train under the coaches for the Italian national team.

He leaves at the end of the month for five days and will end up playing against the Italian U16 national team.

In April, PUMA and the Italian national team had a tryout in San Juan Capistrano, Toronto and New York. He was one of 30 athletes to make the second round in Orlando and one of 16 selected out of Orlando.

Lubin won’t be playing high school soccer this coming season while remaining a student at Notre Dame. He’s headed for the Academy ranks.

“High school was great,” he said. “I love high school. I was happy to play for [Notre Dame].”

He’ll see how Academy goes as to whether he’ll return by his senior year. He has a grade-point average above 4.0, so colleges are going to be recruiting him.

He’s the second Notre Dame player headed to Europe who won’t be playing for the team next season. Callum Stretch signed with the English soccer club Aston Villa F.C.

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