Panthers Unleashed: The Faith Factor
It's 5 a.m. on a summer morning and almost all of Orange is still asleep. But on the dimly lit Wilson Field, a thin shadow can be seen and faint sounds of footsteps and panting can be heard. This is junior center back Faith Holloway doing her routine summer soccer and fitness training on the empty field just in time before she has to leave for her research internship at Zymo Research Corporation, a biotech firm in Irvine.
This is nothing out of the ordinary for Holloway in her action-packed Chapman career thus far. Along with being a soccer standout, Holloway is a biology major, research assistant and a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi professional business fraternity and Schmid Student Leadership Council. Oh, and she has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA in one of the toughest majors Chapman has to offer.
"I literally couldn't tell you how she's so successful. She's just the kind of person who's willing to give 100 percent at everything she does," teammate Elly Aronson said about Holloway. "Whatever she's committed to doing, she's going to do it at her best level."
Holloway is a Rocklin, Calif. native and began playing soccer at the age of six. At nine, she started competitive play and by the time she was a sophomore in high school, she was participating in colleges showcases. Early in the recruiting process, Holloway prioritized location and academics, leading her to Chapman University. The opportunity to play soccer came as an added bonus. Despite her skillset coming in, she was unsure what impact, if at all, she would be able to have on the team her freshman year.
"I came in not knowing if I was even going to make the team, let alone start," Holloway said.
But to her own surprise, she was catapulted into a starting position due to an injury. With stellar play early in the season, she was able to earn the position for the rest of the season. From there, she didn't look back and has now solidified herself as one of the faces of Chapman sports.
In just two years, she has been placed on the All-SCIAC team and the All-West region team twice to go along with being named the team MVP last season. Being a starter since her freshman year, she was catapulted into a leadership position early on and is now a team captain as a junior.
"She really leads by example just by how dedicated and hard working she is," Aronson said about her new captain. "She's done a very good job approaching being a captain both on and off the field."
The team is off to a 4-5 start this season, with four out of their five losses coming by a one goal differential. Holloway believes that because the team is very young, it has taken them a while to mesh together. However, the team has begun to find its groove following a 5-0 thrashing of SCIAC opponent Caltech on Sep. 19 and with the current talent, Holloway is very optimistic about what the Panthers can achieve this season. Her hope is to win the SCIAC tournament and make the NCAA Division III playoffs. Personally, she hopes to just continue living out her passion at an elite level.
"My goals are to, ultimately, do the best I can for my team every game and just have fun," Holloway said. "There's a reason why I went the DIII route and didn't try to play at a higher level. I'm not getting paid to do it. There's no athletic scholarships in DIII. I play this game because I love it."
With all that Holloway has to handle, from soccer to school to numerous extracurricular activities and internships, she somehow navigates a way to find success in so many different avenues. She is always on the move from one activity to the next, finishing up work during her rare chunks of free time and constantly sacrificing sleep. But still, she finds happiness in her pursuits because of the passion she has for what she does.
After graduation, Holloway hopes to pursue a career in either teaching or the sales or marketing side of the biotech industry. While she knows that she will be chasing her academic and career aspirations for many years to come, Holloway understands that her competitive soccer career will be coming to an end soon. With just over a year remaining in her Chapman soccer career, Holloway is attempting to cherish her lifelong passion to the fullest extent before she must move on to the next phase of her life.
"Thinking about how fast it's already gone by and how fast my junior season is going, it makes me sad because I love the game and I love playing at a competitive level. I've been doing it since I was [six] and it has been a huge part in shaping who I am. So on days when it's hard or I'm not thrilled about going to practice, I just try to remember that it goes by so fast and I only get so many hours out on that field. That really helps put things in perspective."
Holloway and the women's soccer team will look to improve their championship hopes as they take on the La Verne Leopards on Saturday, Sep. 22 at Wilson Field.
by Pranav Iyer
Contributor
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