A former player and coach at Cal State Bakersfield and now a valued assistant coach at Cal State LA, Fabian Sandoval returns for his eighth season with the men’s soccer program. He has helped the Golden Eagles enjoy great success during his tenure.
The Golden Eagles were 10-6-3 in 2016 and reached the semifinals of the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Tournament. Cal State LA made its sixth straight trip to the conference tournament and won 10 games for a sixth straight season.
Sandoval helped the Golden Eagles achieve a 12-5-3 record in 2015 that was highlighted by a fifth consecutive NCAA playoff appearance.
In 2014, he helped the Golden Eagles to their second NCAA Division II West Region championship in the four seasons and to a national ranking of 6. The Golden Eagles led the nation in goals against average and save percentage while setting several new program records for defense. Cal State LA had an overall record of 15-4-2 and its end-of-the-season ranking was its best since 1992.
Sandoval also helped the Golden Eagles to great success in 2013 when Cal State LA won its second California Collegiate Athletic Association championship in three seasons and also posted the conference’s best record for a third straight year.
Cal State LA finished with a 14-2-5 record and hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Division II West Region playoffs. The Golden Eagles achieved a national end-of-the-season ranking of 13.
It was a successful follow-up to the 2012 season when Sandoval helped Cal State LA finish with the best record in the CCAA and advance to the second round of the NCAA playoffs. The Golden Eagles posted an 11-4-5 overall record and finished the season ranked 23rd in the country.
In his first seven years with the men’s program, Cal State LA has compiled an overall record of 86-30-25.
Sandoval was also an assistant coach for the women’s program for three years before the programs were split in the spring of 2013. During that time, the Golden Eagle women had an overall record of 35-14-10, including NCAA playoff appearances in 2010 and 2011.
Sandoval helped Cal State LA to a tremendous year in 2011, when the men’s team won NCAA West Region and CCAA championships and the women reached the West Region championship match while hosting two weekends of NCAA play for the first time ever. Cal State LA’s men’s team finished with a 15-2-6 overall record and was ranked eighth in the nation, while the women were 13-4-4 overall and ranked 12th in the nation.
In his first year with the programs in 2010, Sandoval helped the women record a 15-4-1 overall record and capture a second straight CCAA South Division title while helping the men post a 9-7-1 overall record.
Sandoval was a player at Cal State Bakersfield from 1999-2002 when the Roadrunners were members of the CCAA. He also coached at Cal State Bakersfield in 2007-08 after the Roadrunners had made the move to NCAA Division I.
He is currently an academy coach at Los Angeles Football Club. He was also the head coach of the boys’ varsity team at Granada Hills Charter High School, which won the CIF L.A. City Section title in 2017.
Sandoval also played professionally from 2003-2006 with the Bakersfield Brigade, San Diego Gauchos and Miami F.C. and played alongside “Romario,” the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994 and World Cup champion.
Sandoval earned his bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Cal State Bakersfield.
