New Jersey City University Athletics

JERSEY CITY, NJ (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | Patrick Snyder, the former head coach at Division II Felician College and Mercer County Community College, has been named the 13^th head coach in the 54-year history of the New Jersey City University men's soccer program.
 
“We are excited to announce Patrick Snyder as our new men's soccer coach, “said Alice De Fazio, Director of Athletics. “His wealth of experience will serve us well, and I am confident the program will thrive under his leadership.”
 
Snyder, the current head coach for U17 Boys for the New Jersey Olympic Development Program (ODP), served as head coach at Mercer County College during the 2011 season and guided the perennially successful program to an 11-7-1 record and to a berth in the NJCAA Region XIX championship game, before falling 3-2 in the finals.
 
He served as first assistant/goalkeeper coach under Coach Larry Povia during the fall 2010 season when the Vikings won the Region 19 title and finished 15th nationally.
 
"I want to thank Mrs. DeFazio and Mr. [Ken] Heaton for the opportunity to lead this program,” said Snyder. “We are going to work hard to excel on the field and in the classroom. Our goal will be to play in a manner that the fans of NJCU will appreciate and we will carry ourselves in a manner that will make the NJCU Community proud to call us their own." 
 
A soccer player at Mercer in 1997 under then head coach Charlie Inverso, Snyder had been an assistant coach with the Vikings for four total seasons including the 2004-06 campaigns. The 2004 team won the NJCAA national title and was national runners-up in 2006. The Vikings posted a combined 71-8-2 mark during his tenure as an assistant.
 
In 2007, Snyder was named only the third head coach ever at Division II Felician College in Rutherford, NJ and led the Golden Falcons to 13 victories. In three seasons at the helm of Felician, his best season was 2008, when the Falcons put together a 6-10-1 record, including a 1-0 victory over #20 nationally-ranked Dominican (NY) College on October 28 of that season.
 
At Felician, he coached three Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) players, including Lukasz Fraczek, who went on to play professionally in Poland.
 
He also has experience as an assistant coach at Delaware Valley College (Doylestown, Pa.) in 2002 and 2003 and as an assistant coach for the U14 Boys in the New Jersey Olympic Development Program beginning in 2005. His first coaching position was as the freshman coach and goalkeeper trainer at Northern Burlington High School in Columbus, NJ in 2001.  
 
Snyder also currently works for the Player Development Academy (PDA) and is a staff coach for the Mooch Myernick Foundation based out of Trenton, NJ, which works with local, underprivileged kids.
 
Snyder possesses a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) National Diploma and a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) National 'D' license with a 'C' license pending in April. He also earned a New Jersey State Youth Soccer Association (NJSYSA) 'E' License.
 
He began his collegiate playing career as a midfielder at Ursinus College in 1995 before transferring to Mercer where he played one season as a goalkeeper and midfielder for Coach Inverso on a team that advanced to the national finals.
 
Snyder is a 2002 graduate of The College of New Jersey, earning a bachelor's degree in Communications.  He worked as an athletics site manager for TCNJ from 1999-2002 for intercollegiate home games and special events.
 
A 1995 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Lawrence Township, NJ, he played four seasons (two varsity) for the Fighting Irish for Coach Mike Perone. He also is a former player for the German American Club (GAK) of Trenton, winning a state championship in 1995.
 
Snyder, 34, resides in Chesterfield, NJ with his wife, Michele, and their two young sons—Joseph (2) and Daniel (6 months).