Rutgers-Newark Athletics

By Jim Hague
 
Other than his love for the sport of soccer, Pat Holliday has another passion – namely music.
 
His major at Rutgers-Newark might be business marketing, but the R-N senior is working toward a minor in music as well. He was handed a guitar at age eight from his father and started taking music lessons from the Sweet Music Academy in his hometown of Howell, NJ soon after.
 
“My father (Chris) was in a band and he gave me my first guitar,” Holliday said. “I always liked music and fooled around with the guitar, then my mother took me to lessons from sixth grade through senior year.”
 
Holliday’s love of music continued as he taught himself how to play the piano off of the Internet and now also plays a keyboard, but neither the guitar nor the keyboard are part of his apartment in Newark.
 
“I’m not as good as I once was,” Holliday said. “I’m focusing on my schoolwork a little more.”
 
As well as his commitment to the Scarlet Raiders’ solid soccer program.
 
Holliday first attended Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ for his first two years after graduating from Freehold Township High School.
 
R-N head soccer coach Kevin East didn’t recruit Holliday out of high school, but Holliday certainly caught East’s eye during a recruiting trip to Brookdale.
 
“The first time I saw Pat play was at Brookdale,” East said. “I went to watch another player and saw Pat and really liked him a lot. I liked him more than the other player I went to see.”
 
Holliday stood out as a tall defender who had incredible speed and the ability to move up into the attack from the left back position.
 
“He can make himself dangerous,” East said. “He was able to give us something that not a lot of other teams have, a left back who can come down the flank and make a play. He can serve a good ball and strikes the ball clean and hard. You don’t usually find left backs who can attack like that.”


Holliday likes having that ability.
 
“I love that,” Holliday said. “I am mainly a defensive player, but I guess I become pretty dangerous because of my speed. I’ve always been a natural defender. I never played left back until I went to Brookdale. Playing on the left side, I had to learn how to use my left foot more. It’s improved a lot.”


Holliday was impressed with the R-N campus and facilities.
 
“I love that it’s a small campus, easy to get around,” Holliday said. “I use my legs a lot in soccer, so I don’t want to walk around that much. I loved the fields and Coach East talked about how we were getting new (locker room) facilities, so that meant a lot to me. After being with a winning and successful program at Brookdale, I wanted to go to a program close to home that also won. I also wanted to make the program better.”
 
Holliday said that he fit in perfectly at R-N.
 
“I knew a couple of players, so that helped,” Holliday said. “A friend of mine from high school and Brookdale, Nick Bucciero, was also coming to Rutgers, so he could be my roommate. We played together at Brookdale.”
 
Holliday also liked the educational value of being an R-N graduate.
 
“One of the biggest reasons why I came here was the business school,” Holliday said. “Rutgers has one of the top business schools in the country. I know I’ll have a good chance getting a good job with a Rutgers degree.”
 
Holliday hopes that his business marketing degree will help him get a job in the music business.
 
“I would love to work at a record label,” Holliday said. “That would be my dream job.”
 
East said that Holliday has been a welcome addition to his program, which won 17 games a year ago, went to the NJAC championship game and earned a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time.
 
“Without a doubt, Pat has been a huge plus for us,” East said. “You pretty much know what you’re going to get from him. He puts in the same hard performance every time. He’s been one of our more steady players. He’s also a real good kid and leads in his own way. He goes out there and plays hard, puts in the work. He’s also vocal and lets the others know if things aren’t going well. He’s definitely a positive influence on our program, both on and off the field.”
 
Added East, “We have threats to score all over the field, but Pat can run into spots, float in and cause some trouble. To move forward, we need to have backs who can attack. It’s something we’ve been lacking. Pat brought that to this team.”
 
Holliday has lofty goals for the season.
 
“We want to win the NJAC this year,” Holliday said. “That’s our No. 1 goal. It’s never been done before here, so we want to make history. That would be incredible.”
 
Much like the music Holliday has been making since childhood.