Hopewell Soccer

Hopewell Soccer’s Chris Colonna, Jr. Signs With Chatham University

Published

12 months ago

February 22, 2024

Mike Vukovcan

More exciting news as yet another Hopewell High School senior athlete has made their college decision.

On Wednesday night, Hopewell Boys soccer player Chris Colonna, Jr. announced his decision to sign with Chatham University.

Colonna’s passion for soccer started at the age of 2, as he would be kicking a soccer ball around with his father at his older sister’s soccer practice.

From there, Chris started playing competitively in Hopewell’s in-house program and in 3rd grade, he joined his first Cup team, FC Pittsburgh.

After attending Our Lady of Fatima, Colonna continued playing at Hopewell Middle School as continuing to play for FC Pittsburgh.

Aside from soccer, Colonna was active growing up in basketball and baseball. During 8th grade, he was spending a bunch of time in both soccer and basketball and wanted to start concentrating on just one sport. Colonna tells HSN that he originally wanted to quit soccer to focus more on basketball.

However, his father encouraged him to stick with soccer and that’s what he ended up doing. That turned out to be a really good decision as he’ll be taking his talents to play at Chatham University.

“I am truly blessed and honored to be joining Chatham University for the next 4 years,” Colonna tells HSN. “Coach Danley showed me a lot of love and a lot of interest, and it really made me feel at home. Chatham is a very new soccer program and they have been making great strides over the past few years. I feel like I could make a big impact on this programs growth into becoming a powerhouse team. Also, I will be playing with some of the kids I’ve played Cup soccer with since 2nd grade, so I felt like this is the right place for me.”

“My goals at Chatham are to just help the team in any way possible. I want to be able to score goals or get assists or make the right plays that lead us to wins and ultimately, leads us to have a great 4 years together!”

Since he started at such a young age, we asked Colonna if playing soccer in college was something that he thought was possible or was he just playing to be competitive?

“When I was growing up, the goal has always been to play in college,” said Colonna. “When you’re younger, you automatically think that you’re going to be a professional, but as you start to mature and get a bit older, you realize that going pro is very difficult, so ultimately, the next step is college, and it has always been a dream to play in college.”

As we wrapped up our interview, Colonna realized that he didn’t achieve this huge accomplishment without a lot of help and wanted to thank a bunch of people who have assisted him along the way.

“I want to first and foremost thank God for taking me down this amazing path,” said Colonna. “I want to thank my mom and dad and my sister for always believing in me and always pushing me to be a better player, and a better man. I want to thank my Uncle Dave, Aunt Joette and my cousin, Sam for always driving hours to come watch a game or two when they were able to. I want to thank my cousin, Gabe, for also pushing me and believing in me. I want to thank my best friends, Aiden and Landen Kramer and Nick Revier for always taking time out of their days to go to the field with me and getting extra work.”

“I want to thank everyone on the Hopewell soccer team, especially my close friends, Tommy Armour, Rocco Marcantonio and Jake Kovell for always picking my head up when it has been down and pushing me to make that extra play when I was getting tired in those critical moments. I want to thank my whole Steel City team for pushing me and making me the player I am today. I want to thank my Steel City coaches Mike Gardner, Dan Yates, Mark Taylor, Johnathan Velotta and Dan Brower. I want to thank my FC Pittsburgh coach Ian Rudy. I want to thank my Hopewell coaches, Coach Mohrbacher, Coach Cosnek and Coach Fetch. Lastly, I would like to thank my Nonna, who is no longer with us. She would always make sure that I’m getting my grades up and making sure that I’m being a great young man, who treats everyone with kindness and respect.

While at Chatham University, Colonna plans on pursuing a major in accounting.

Best of luck Chris and congratulations!