The Loncar family is no stranger to the world of soccer and captain Julia Loncar brings her and her family’s love for soccer to the Marist University campus.
Growing up in Brampton, Ontario, soccer surrounded the senior defender. Her family’s love for the game began in the small but football-crazed country of Croatia; both of Loncar’s parents and grandparents immigrated to Canada together, bringing their shared passion for soccer with them.
“I grew up watching every soccer league ever, still now when I go home, you can find any level of soccer possible that could be played on the TV,” said Loncar.
The defender’s own enthusiasm for soccer began before she could remember.
“There is a nine-year age gap between me and my oldest sister [Nicole] and a seven-year gap between the second one [Martina]. I grew up, even as a baby, always surrounded by soccer – going to my sisters’ practices and games or even just playing with them in the backyard,” said Loncar.
Loncar joined her first club team at the age of seven and credits everything she knows about the game to her longtime head coach, Omar Williams. Williams coached Loncar from then until she left for college.
“I grew up in a very soccer-based family, but it was more about watching to enjoy, whereas he [coach Williams] taught me, actually everything there is to know about soccer. One of the first things he ever taught me still sticks with me and I was seven years old. I still hear his words when I am defending someone one-on-one.”
Julia Loncar
Williams and Loncar met during her time with the Woodbridge Soccer Club, an organization that holds a strong focus on player development. During Loncar’s time at Woodbridge, the defender won ten championships with the team.
“A lot of teams in Canada and even here [the United States] are very kick-the-ball-and-run type of style, where my coach was very different; he was very possession-oriented,” said Loncar. “So my experience was slightly different from other players growing up in Canada.”
In 2018, Loncar also had the opportunity to represent her province on the Ontario Provincial Team.
Loncar is not the only family member who has played for Canada, with both of her sisters appearing on the U20 national team roster. Loncar’s older sisters also played soccer in America for college, with Nicole playing midfield for Princeton and Martina a forward for Colgate.
Seeing her sisters go through the recruitment process helped Loncar in the navigation of college recruitment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding how to contact schools and knowing coaches through her sister’s became a benefit for her during a fully hybrid recruitment process.
“All of my recruitment was happening off a highlight reel instead of coaches coming to visit me, which was interesting,” said Loncar. “I was recruited directly off that reel, and I did not meet the coach until I committed.”
Loncar landed at the University of Connecticut in 2022. As a freshman, the defender played in six matches for the Huskies, recording her first collegiate start against Georgetown. After one season, Loncar decided that UConn was not the right fit for her.
“The difference in school size was a huge factor for me. I didn’t realize how big UConn was until I was there,” said Loncar. “25,000 undergraduate students really changes the way schooling is, which I didn’t realize until I left. I was in classes with 200 students, athletics was a huge thing there, but going into transferring, I knew I wanted an environment with a family and coach [Nicole Pacapelli Ciano] really prioritizes that.”
As much as Loncar is consumed by soccer, she knows there is more to life than the game she loves. She wants her collegiate career to help her prepare for a world where soccer may not be the priority.
“I wanted someone and somewhere that built me as a person for the future and I was not getting the best I could out of UConn”, said Loncar. “Coach [Pacapelli Ciano] really came into it prioritizing obviously we want to win games and championships, but we want the player to be second to the person.”
Pacapelli Ciano and Loncar experienced their first full season as Red Foxes together. In her sophomore year, Loncar appeared in seven games, working her way up to 16 appearances her junior year and receiving All-Academic Team honors from the MAAC. For the 2025 season, Loncar is a key asset to the back line and a senior captain.
“Arriving as a sophomore was hard, but the coach was great and made sure the girls engaged with me, and the girls themselves went out of their way to include me in everything, I can truly say transferring is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I gained a family, people say that, but I seriously gained a family.”
Julia LOncar
Success as a Red Fox didn’t come to Loncar and the team right away. The team finished at the bottom of the MAAC for her first two seasons at Marist, where they now find themselves pushing for a top spot. Focused on building a culture surrounded by family, Pacapelli Ciano picked up the pieces of a program left to her and made it a winning one.
“When I first arrived, the vibe of the team was different; it was very self-focused, where now we have done a very good job of making the focus of me into, I want what is best for all of us, even if it is not necessarily the best for me personally,” said Loncar.
Loncar recorded her first goal in the team’s catalyst win over Saint Peter’s on Sept. 20, coincidentally, Loncar’s birthday.
“We had a really rough non-conference slate and then going into conference, the first two games were ties. Saint Peter’s was that huge shift for us; it was a really hard game, and there wasn’t necessarily anything we had to fight for,” said Loncar. “But we fought all 90 minutes, and that was my first collegiate goal and it was the winning goal. That was one of the major shifts in the season where we were finally like, we can compete with these teams, and we can do really well.”
Taking momentum from the win against Saint Peter’s, Marist went on a program-breaking nine-game unbeaten streak. The team’s chemistry and accountability are key factors behind this year’s success. As a leader, Loncar hopes to set a precedent by instilling the current culture in the younger players.
“I think I do well at coaching and giving direction, but also calling people out for when they do something well. It is such an easy, small, simple thing that really builds the team up,” said Loncar. “It is super crucial, being intentional in the way you communicate and making sure you watch your tone and the way you are talking to people; it changes the whole dynamic.”
Loncar also credits the team’s success to the energy from off the field, with the bench locked in on the sidelines supporting the girls who are actively playing. As the Red Foxes wrap up regular-season play, Loncar will always remember the feeling of getting up from scoring the game-winning goal on her birthday and seeing the lit-up faces of her teammates running towards her.
Aside from soccer, Loncar is a psychology major with a business minor. She volunteers her time at the Blossom Lab on the Marist campus, which focuses on young kids and developmental psychology. Doors are open for Loncar to find herself in many different places in life, from working within developmental psych to an HR job, or even playing soccer.
“People have recently been throwing in my head maybe coach somewhere, or Maddy [Catalanotti] and Liv [Lindsay], two of our other captains, are thinking about going abroad to play and I am honestly debating it. Everything is up in the air; who knows what will happen,” said Loncar.
A drawing factor for Loncar to play abroad is the potential opportunity to represent Croatia. Her sister Martina represented Croatia at the highest level in 2019 during the FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers. Loncar would be honored to pay homage to a country that has meant so much to her.
“We are a Canadian family, but I grew up in a very Croatian household, with very recently immigrated parents,” said Loncar. “When the World Cup happens, I cheer for them over Canada. So, if I were to represent anyone nationally, it would be them because of the pride I have for Croatia.”
As her future with soccer is uncertain, the lessons that she learned from her career will stick with her off the field. One of the biggest accomplishments Loncar is proud to have learned is confidence.
“Coming into college, you think you know everything, but you really don’t. It is really easy to harp on the negative things. But if you are just confident in yourself, even when you do something wrong, you can get past those negatives,” said Loncar.
Before playing at Tenney Stadium, Loncar looks at the quotes hanging in her locker, one of them from Venus Williams that reads, “Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, just pretend that you do and, at some point, you will.”
From watching her sisters play soccer from a stroller on the sidelines to prepping to graduate from a Division I soccer program herself, Loncar continues to grow her adoration for the game both on and off the field and wherever it may take her in the future.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photos via Marist Athletics
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