College of Marin athletics has named Irving Ventura-Rafaela as Head Coach for the Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams.  

Coach Irving brings years of experience through coaching and playing. Irving played Division 1 soccer at the University of California, Irvine, and University of San Francisco. He was also a professional soccer player for the San Jose Earthquakes, Bogota FC, and FC Arizona. In the summer of 2021, Coach Irving was brought on to the College of Marin Soccer coaching staff as an assistant coach. That season, the Mariners were 8-8-3 overall and 5-3-2 in the conference.  

His philosophy is to create a fun learning environment where the players develop their skills through game experience and training. This season he is looking to implement a high-tempo style of play where the student body, fans, and the community will enjoy watching College of Marin compete. Coach Irving has been a coach for four years around Marin and Sonoma County: Sonoma Valley United, Corte Madera FC, Marin FC, Mill Valley Soccer Club, San Rafael Youth Soccer, Napa Soccer Academy, NorCal PDP Region 5, and Sonoma County Sol. With his player development experience, Coach Irving is excited to have the opportunity to work with a great group of student-athletes and help them have great athletic and academic success.  

Off of the field, he is looking forward to keeping academic success the number one goal for the student-athletes. “We will focus on individual GPAs and the team GPA, which means the team will have to hold each other accountable in the classroom.” Coach Irving will also focus on connecting the student-athletes with resources that College of Marin has to offer to achieve academic success.