In just his third season as the head coach, Ruben Gonzalez took a Cerritos College women’s soccer team where they had never gone before. With a stunning 2-1 win over Santiago Canyon College in the state championship game, Gonzalez became the first coach to guide the Falcons to the state championship. Since his arrival, Gonzalez has led his teams to three straight South Coast Conference championships and has advanced to at least the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs. In his inaugural year, they won their first playoff game in the program’s history, while they came within one win of advancing to the state tournament his second year. But his team put it all together his third year and won the state title and finished ranked #2 in the country. In his three years, Gonzalez has compiled an amazing 66-8-5 record on the year and a 30-3-3 SCC mark, while they have broken the single-season wins record each year. The team has gone from 20 wins in 2006 (ranked #19 in the country) to 22 in 2007 (ranked #15 in the country) and 24 last year.

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. His combined coaching record at both colleges is 110-19-5, while he is 62-6-4 in conference play.

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.