California State University - Sacramento Men's Soccer

With more than three decades of experience of guiding the Sacramento State men’s soccer program, Head Coach Michael Linenberger enters his 36th season at the helm of the Hornets in 2025. A mainstay on campus since arriving as an assistant in 1988, he assumed the mantle of co-head coach of the program in 1989 alongside Paul Arellanes, helping usher Sacramento State into the Division I era in 1991 and posting a 26-17-3 record during those three seasons. In 1992, he took over as head coach and has been on the sidelines ever since. During his tenure, Linenberger has been named conference coach of the year four times — earning three awards as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 2001, 2005, and 2009, while picking up Big West Conference Coach of the Year laurels in 2014, just two years after joining the league. Over that time, Linenberger has guided Sacramento State to 232 career victories and a pair of NCAA Tournament berths in 2009 and 2010, winning its first-round match-ups against Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara, respectively, before falling to nationally seeded UCLA in the second round. His teams twice won the MPSF regular season title in 2001 and 2009, while laying claim to back-to-back MPSF tournament crowns in 2009 and 2010, posting a combined 23-11-10 overall record and an 8-2-7 mark in league play in those two seasons. While in the MPSF (1992-2011), Linenberger helped mentor 72 student-athletes to all-conference honors (including 20 first-team selections), 44 league all-academic team selections, 16 MPSF all-tournament team selections, two tournament MVPs (Fernando Cabadas in 2009 and Chris Bettencourt in 2010), a conference player of the year (Ernesto Carranza in 2009), and a league newcomer of the year (Jeff Buddenbohn in 2005). From there, he helped usher the Hornets into yet another new era, joining the Big West Conference in 2012, finishing with eight wins overall and a 5-4-1 record in their league debut. Four student-athletes were named to the All-Big West honor roll that year, including a pair of first-team selections in Matt Linenberger and Casey Bernard. Since then, Sacramento State has qualified for the Big West Tournament four times, making its debut in 2014 and advancing to the semifinals in 2016 after finishing second in the North Division during the regular season. In 2022, the Hornets ended a four-year tournament drought, qualifying as the No. 6 seed. In the 13 seasons as members of the Big West, Linenberger has helped coach 28 student-athletes to a total of 33 All-Big West honors, placed 15 student-athletes on the conference’s all-freshman team, and has seen success in the classroom with his charges named to the Big West All-Academic Team a total of 73 times. He has also had a player named the league’s midfielder of the year (Paul Geyer, who was also a three-time all-conference selection, in 2017) and freshman of the year (Benji Kikanovic, who was also a two-time all-conference selection, in 2018). In addition, six student-athletes have been named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region team — Joe Enochs (1991), Sean Luigs (2001), Carranza (2009), Cabadas (2009), Geyer (2017), and Austin Wehner (2022) — and three players earned a total of five all-region scholar-athlete awards. After college, Linenberger has seen 39 of his student-athletes go on to professional soccer careers, including six players who have been drafted by Major League Soccer teams: Brandon Cavitt (1996 - Dallas Burn), John Jones (1997 - LA Galaxy), Carranza (2011 - Chivas USA), Cabadas (2011 - New England Revolution), Chimdum Mez (2015 - San Jose Earthquakes), and Donovan Sessoms (2024 - San Diego FC). Other notable Hornets to go on to professional careers include Jamel Mitchell, who appeared with the MLS Kansas City Wizards in 1997; Mark Baena, who played in Germany for three seasons after college, then returned to the United States to compete in the USISL where he starred for the Seattle Sounders, earning league MVP honors, and was inducted into the USL Hall of Fame in 2003; Joe Enochs, who spent the majority of his career overseas in Germany with VfL Osnabruck and earned one cap with the United States National Team in 2001 against Ecuador; and Max Alvarez, who followed up his collegiate career by playing in the USL for the Sacramento Republic FC, helping his club to a USL championship in his first season. Kikanovic entered his fifth season with the San Jose Earthquakes in 2025 with 14 goals and four assists to his name, including a six-goal performance in 2022 when he was named the club’s Young Player of the Year, given to the most impactful player 23 years of age or younger on matchday one. Off the field, Linenberger was named to the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Selection Committee in the fall of 1997 for a five-year term, serving as chair of the Far West Region and having a hand in selecting the 48 teams that compete annually in the NCAA Tournament. His duties included overseeing site selection in the Far West Region for all rounds leading up to the Men’s College Cup, updating selection criteria and standards for the championships, rating conferences and serving at the College Cup as a member of the NCAA contingent which oversees the event. From 2008 to 2011, Linenberger was also head coach of the U.S. Soccer Olympic Development Program for Region IV, overseeing all five age groups between U-14 and U-18 in the western 14 states. Linenberger was in charge of coach selection, player selection and the overall training curriculum. In addition, Linenberger was named a scout by the U.S. Soccer Federation for Project 2010, an initiative designed to make the men’s national team fully competitive by the 2010 World Cup. His primary duties included the scouting of 13-14 year olds in Northern California that had future national team potential but were not in the ODP system. Linenberger received a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Duke University in 1987. He was a four-year letter winner as a member of the Blue Devils’ soccer team and a team captain of the 1986 squad which won the NCAA Division I national championship. In 2019, Linenberger and his national championship team was inducted into the North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame. Following his brilliant collegiate career, Linenberger played professionally with the Sacramento Senators and for FC St. Pauli and SC Norderstedt in Germany’s second and third divisions.

A mainstay on the Sacramento State sidelines as both a student-athlete and coach for more than two decades, Matt McDougall enters his 20th season overall on the Hornet staff and his ninth as the program’s Associate Head Coach in 2025. Before being elevated to his current position McDougall served as the Assistant Head Coach for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. McDougall is involved with all facets of the program, including on-field instruction, and is the team's recruiting coordinator. Additionally he is the director of the program's summer soccer camps and 6-v-6 tournament. During his time as a coach, McDougall has helped guide his alma mater to a pair of conference titles in 2001 and 2009 as well as back-to-back NCAA Tournament second round appearances in 2009 and 2010, posting victories over Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara. All told, Sacramento State has won 126 matches overall and 59 conference contests in his tenure. A former three-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honoree as a goalkeeper during his playing days with the Hornets from 2002-05, McDougall was promoted to the team's top assistant coach in 2009 after serving as the goalkeeper's coach in his first three seasons. Under his tutelage, Hornet goalkeepers have gone on to earn a total of five all-conference awards, an all-freshman team honoree, and eight player of the week citations. In 2010, McDougall's coaching helped rookie keeper Cesar Castillo earn Goal.com Freshman All-America honors after tallying 94 saves — the seventh-highest single-season total in school history. Castillo also tallied a single-season record eight shutouts and posted a 0.90 goals against average as a freshman, and was an All-Big West second team selection as a senior before signing with a professional team in Puerto Rico. In addition, he helped mentor keeper James Del Curto, a two-time All-Big West second team choice who finished his four-year career with 241 saves (fourth on the all-time list) and 24 victories (second on the career chart), while posting the most starts and most minutes played between the pipes in the Hornet annals. A stellar goalkeeper for the Hornets himself, McDougall holds Sacramento State program records with 306 career saves and 5.10 saves per game, while ranking third all-time with 18 career wins and tied for fifth with 10 career shutouts.  His 1.47 career goals against average ranks fourth in the school's Division I history (minimum 1,000 minutes played), and in 2004, he spent every minute in goal for the Hornets (1,760 minutes). In 2005, he earned all-MPSF first team honors after posting a career-best 1.15 goals against average and leading the Hornets to a 9-7-2 record. In his final two seasons in net for the Hornets, McDougall led the MPSF in saves. In May of 2015, McDougall served as the fill-in goalkeepers coach for the Republic of Ireland women's national team in its friendly against the United States in San Jose, Calif., training with the team for two days before the game. McDougall lives in Sacramento with his wife Missy, who is also a former Sacramento State women's soccer player, and their daughters Myla and Ava.

Former Sacramento State goalkeeper Hector “Keko” Grajeda has returned to his alma mater and enters his first year as an assistant coach with the program in 2025. “We are excited to add Hector to our staff as an assistant coach in charge of goalkeeping,” Head Coach Michael Linenberger said. “Keko played for us in 2019 and 2020, but unfortunately, his career with us was cut short in his final season due to the pandemic. He has valuable playing and coaching experience that he is passionate to share with our student-athletes and especially our goalkeepers.” A native of nearby Stockton, Calif., Grajeda has been a coach at the club level since 2021, serving most recently as a goalkeeper coach with Sacramento United SC. Prior to that, he spent a year with Elite Soccer Academy in Sacramento and was a coach for two years with Southern States SC in Hattiesburg, Miss. Those posts all followed a playing career that saw Grajeda play professionally with Chattanooga FC of the National Independent Soccer Association in 2021, two seasons with Southern States SC in the National Premier Soccer League in 2021-23, and a year with the Charlotte Independence in the USL League One in 2022. Grajeda joined the green and gold in 2019 after playing his first two collegiate seasons at Cosumnes River College where he was the Big 8 Conference Goalkeeper of the Year, a first-team all-conference choice, and a member of the Big 8 Conference’s NorCal Team of the Year as a freshman. As a junior with the Hornets, Grajeda appeared in seven matches and made six starts between the pipes in 2019, finishing with 20 saves and a 1.63 goals against average. He earned his first career win in his first career match against a receiving votes San Diego squad, making three saves, and finished with a season-high seven saves against Cal State Fullerton later in the year. A 2020 Dean’s List graduate of Sacramento State with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, Grajeda holds a United States Soccer Federation “D” License and is currently pursuing his “C” License. He prepped at Stagg HS in Stockton and spent two years competing with the Sacramento Republic FC Academy squad.