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In just his first season as
the Cerritos College women’s soccer co-head
coach, Ruben Gonzalez helped lead the
Falcons to their best season in school
history. He now returns as the head coach
and is looking to improve on the team’s
record, which established a new standard for
most wins in a season. In addition to a
solid second place finish in the South Coast
Conference, the team won their first-ever
post-season game and concluded the year with
a 20-4-2 record. They finished the season
ranked sixth in Southern California and 19th
nationally. Prior to coming to Cerritos,
Gonzalez spent three seasons serving as the
head women’s soccer coach at Rio Hondo
College and led them to two Foothill
Conference championships and a combined
44-11-1 overall record. In addition, his
conference record was a remarkable 32-3-1,
as the team won their conference
championship in his first and third year,
while they placed second the other season.
Gonzalez played his college
soccer at Cal State University, Los Angeles
from 1989-92 under the direction of former
World Cup International Mexican National
Team player Leonardo Cuellar. In two of his
seasons at CSULA, the college played at the
Division I level, with the last two being at
Division II, while Gonzalez was an
All-Conference defender. He then graduated
from CSULA with a Bachelor’s degree in
Physical Education.
Prior to coaching at Cerritos College,
Gonzalez was an assistant coach at
California State University, Los Angeles in
1993 before being named the head coach at
Pius X High in Downey from 1994-95. He then
moved on to St. John Bosco High in
Bellflower from 1996-2000 as their assistant
coach. In 1997, he became the men’s
assistant coach helping to begin the first
men’s soccer program at Rio Hondo College,
which was the inaugural season for the team
that went on to the state finals and ended
the season ranked ninth in the nation. He
remained at Rio Hondo College from 1997-2002
as their assistant coach and helped the team
reach the Southern California regional
Playoffs every year. While coaching at Rio
Hondo College, Gonzalez helped to develop
players that went on to play professionally,
as well as at Division I and Division II
universities. While coaching in college,
Gonzalez has been actively coaching club
soccer teams which include Whittier Soccer
Club, Cerritos United Soccer Club and is
currently coaching the San Gabriel Valley
Flyers Girls Under 17 and Boys Under 15.
In 2002, Gonzalez became the head women’s
soccer coach at Rio Hondo College, and went
on to win the Foothill Conference
Championship with a 12-0 record and 18-2
overall record guiding the team to the
playoffs. In 2003, Rio Hondo College just
missed the playoffs with a 10-2 conference
record and a 12-7 overall record. Then, in
2004, Rio Hondo was back in the playoffs
with a 10-1-1 Conference record and 14-2-1
overall record. Gonzalez left Rio Hondo
College with an overall record of 44-11-1.
In three seasons as a head coach, Gonzalez
had one of the highest winning percentages
in school history, which included a 32-3-1
conference mark. |