Competitive upbringing helps Cardona excel on field

When asked whom he models his game after, Penn State forward Julian Cardona named two of the English Premier League’s most talented attackers — Fernando Torres of Chelsea and Robin van Persie of Manchester United.
Even though Cardona may not be as talented as those international stars, Penn State’s leading scorer in 2012 has shown on the pitch that his attacking ways are not to be taken lightly. He’s tallied four goals in four games so far.
“I’ve always enjoyed playing forward, just getting the chance to attack and score goals has always been fun for me,” Cardona said.
While it may seem like Cardona attacks the ball effortlessly, that driven mentality wasn’t something the senior formed overnight, but rather cultivated since early childhood.
Cardona was the youngest child in a trio of savvy athletes growing up in a competitive household in Lincoln, Neb.
His older brother, Rene III, was a baseball player for Nebraska Wesleyan and his sister, Alexa, played soccer for Nebraska until graduating last season.
“Julian and I would compete in everything from grades, to running, to having the cleanest room… it was always a blood bath,” Alexa Cardona said. “Sports are competitive in nature and being around all the time made us compete in everything.”
Despite the competitive energy, the three Cardonas have always supported one another’s athletic endeavors and that trend continues to this day.
Rene Cardona, Julian’s father, said his children have always been supportive and offer constructive criticism to help make one another better.
While his competitive attitude has been his trademark, Julian Cardona’s technique and form on the pitch also began to develop at a young age.
As a 10-year-old, Cardona began playing for a travel club team in Omaha called Arsenal United, coached by Alex Vasquez, where he won four state championships from 2004-07.
Cardona said it was Vasquez’s guidance that helped him grow as a soccer player. He also grew to know his current Penn State coach Bob Warming during early adolescence.
“I actually grew up playing with [Penn State midfielder] Grant Warming and so coach Warming [Grant’s father] was always around doing sessions with our team and I wanted to play for him at Creighton for the longest time,” Cardona said.
To Cardona’s dismay, Creighton was not recruiting forwards the year he graduated from Shattuck-St. Mary’s boarding school (Faribault, Minn.) and so the Nebraska native went to play for Butler.
Even though competition wasn’t at the highest level in the Horizon League, Cardona started for and heavily contributed to a Bulldog team that went 30-4-5 over a two-year period.
However, it was the accomplishments of the team over those years that led Cardona to make the decision to transfer.
After years of success, the majority of the Bulldogs’ coaching staff was offered and accepted positions to coach at North Carolina State, a traditional ACC soccer powerhouse.
After the mass exodus of the coaches that recruited him, Cardona was left to look for a fresh start, which he found at Penn State with its newly appointed coach, Warming. Cardona had been looking to move out of Butler, and he said the transfer to Penn State made sense.
“I’ve known Julian since he was 10 years old and I helped train him as he was growing up with his Arsenal club. He is a natural leader and a positive person,” Warming said to GoPSUSports.com in May 2011 when speaking of his recruiting class.
Even though he started 17 games for the Lions last year, Cardona is just hitting his groove in his second Nittany Lions’ season  – one in which he’s back to near full health.
While he netted four goals last year, the senior was dealing with a reaggravated hip flexor issue that has hampered him over the course of his soccer career.
“I’ve seen Julian play for an awful long time and I know that when he’s healthy he’s tough to stop and last year he was never as fit as he is now,” Warming said.
To email reporter: jjm5639@psu.edu