Rafael Garcia is a retired American professional soccer player who spent six seasons as defensive midfielder for the MLS Los Angeles Galaxy. He was born in Granada Hills, California, on Dec. 19, 1988, and became a standout midfielder for the Matadors men’s soccer team at CSUN from 2007 – 2011.
Garnering three All-Big West Team selections, including a First Team honor in his senior season at CSUN, Garcia would play in a total of 68 total games with 63 starts where he totaled five goals, eight assists and 18 points. Garcia led the Matadors with six assists and 10 points during the 2010 season while he scored two goals in each of his final two years.
During Garcia’s time with CSUN, he suffered a season-ending injury in the first game of the 2008 season against Georgetown. He was redshirted for the rest of the season.
Garcia graduated with a sociology degree in 2011 and was drafted at 38th overall in the second round of the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft for Los Angeles Galaxy. He won two MLS Cup Championship titles in 2012 and 2014. Garcia has made 45 regular season appearances with his hometown club, making him one of the most accomplished former Matador men’s soccer players in program history.
Garcia played in a career-high 18 games in his final season with the Galaxy in 2017, where he totaled 12 starts. He also spent time with the LA Galaxy II, as captain of the club in its inaugural season in 2014.
After departing from Galaxy, Garcia played professionally for the Las Vegas Lights in 2018 and the Oklahoma City Energy FC from 2019-20 of the United Soccer League Championship.
Garcia has served as an academy coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy where he has worked with many youth soccer players from multiple age groups. He most recently served as the head boys soccer coach at Sierra Canyon School in 2024. He has also spent time coaching at Viewpoint School in Calabasas and nearby Harvard Westlake School.
He returned to CSUN as an assistant coach for the men’s soccer team for the 2026 season and is bringing his soccer experience from being a student to a professional soccer player for the next generation.
“CSUN is home. I always knew that I would transition into coaching as soon as I was done playing. My plan was to always come back to where I started and it came at a perfect time when the opportunity came around,” said Garcia.” I’m very grateful for head coach Terry [Davila] and Northridge athletics to allow me the opportunity to come back.”
Garcia is training soccer players and hopes to make memories with his team as someone who has a huge love and admiration for CSUN. Garcia mentions that he loves the unique things that make the university a place to thrive and learn.
“I’ve been fortunate to experience a lot of different things across many different levels and for me the most important thing is to be able to give back and pay it forward,” said Garcia. “Some students will have the opportunity to play professionally after Northridge, or some will move on to the work field or any other future career, and if they can take anything from my experience is to work extremely hard and be good to people.”
The Matadors rallied past The Master’s University during their home opener with a 5-1 thriller win. It marks the first time that CSUN scored five or more goals since their game against the University of San Francisco in 2019. Garcia hopes that this result will be the start of a new clean sheet for the men’s soccer program in terms of having a well organized team with offense and defensive strategies and to avoid conceding many goals.
“I think our future opponents will find it difficult to break us down and we are starting to come together offensively,” said Garcia. “So I think teams that come here will endure a physical match and for us it’s one game at a time.”