Playing home game
West ‘A’ grad a Riverhound
Riverhounds midfielder Nick Kolarac loves being able to represent his hometown out on the soccer pitch.
Kolarac, an Imperial resident and 2010 West Allegheny High School graduate, feels as though he is representing his city every time he laces up and steps onto the field.
“I wouldn’t call myself a ‘yinzer,’ but all of my teammates joke around and say that I am,” Kolarac said. “I definitely feel that I’m repping the city when I play. I support all the other teams here, and I really love the city a lot, having grown up here.”
Kolarac, who signed with the Riverhounds in March, was thrilled when he found out his hometown club wanted him to play for them.
“I’ve always wanted to come back and play in Pittsburgh,” Kolarac said. “Just growing up here, and knowing the Riverhounds ’cause they’ve been around since I was a little kid, I’ve always wanted to come back and play here. It’s pretty cool.”
As he expected, Kolarac is enjoying his Riverhounds experience so far.
“It’s just good to be back home with my friends and family, and the Riverhounds is a good organization. I really like it here,” Kolarac said.
One of Kolarac’s favorite aspects of playing at home is the crowd support.
“A bunch of my friends always comes down from high school and local club teams that I played on, and then my college is only a couple hours away, so a bunch of people come down from there as well,” Kolarac said.
In addition to the joy of playing in his hometown, Kolarac, 23, is simply happy to finally be playing professionally.
“It’s a dream come true,” Kolarac said. “I've always wanted to play professional soccer ever since I was a little kid. I’m very excited about it, getting paid to play the game that I love.”
In 2104, Kolarac played for the Michigan Bucks of the Premier Development League, which is considered the highest level of men’s amateur soccer in the United States. He played in 13 games and scored one goal for the Bucks, who went on to win the PDL championship that year.
Kolarac was a standout player for the Red Flash of Saint Francis University from 2010 to 2013. In his senior season, he started all 19 games, and led the team in goals (11), points (26), shots (76), shots on goal (29) and game-winning goals (3). He was selected to the AllNortheast Conference first team and earned All-North Atlantic Region honors as well.
Kolarac had a decorated high school soccer career, too. He was named team MVP, was first-team AllWPIAL, and tallied 23 goals and 37 assists.
Kolarac’s mom, Sharon, said that she could tell Nick was destined to be a soccer player from a young age.
“He was our first born, and of course I bought all kind of toys and books and everything and all of his grandparents did the same thing,” she said.
“One thing that just, everything else got pushed aside and he never really looked at any of that stuff, it was the soccer ball, on his feet, constantly. He would get into some other sports, and he would like it, he would excel, but that soccer ball was always there.
“We just continued to push that, and he always just excelled. He seemed to have something special,” she said.