Giovanny Hernandez (6) of San Rafael keeps his eye on the ball while jumping to make a head pass during their season finale MCAL boys soccer game against Terra Linda at Terra Linda in San Rafael, Calif. on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. San Rafael defeated Terra Linda 3-0. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal) Alis Diaz Grijalva […]
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For as long as they have been involved with the San Rafael High boys soccer team, assistant coaches Jose De La Rosa and Jeremie Brunet have dreamed of staging a high-level soccer invitational.
That dream becomes a reality this week as the Bulldogs are set to host 11 other top teams from all over Northern California – including three other local powerhouses – in the Mission City Invitational from Thursday until Saturday.
“Trying to bring a tournament to San Rafael is something we’ve always wanted to do,” De La Rosa said. “It’s something we’ve talked about as a coaching staff and we’re excited to have it happening this coming weekend.”
“We’re super excited to do this,” Brunet said. “I think something that’s really exciting is this has the possibility to be one of the best invitationals in Northern California.”
Four perennial MCAL playoff contenders – San Rafael, Terra Linda, Archie Williams, and Redwood – are a part of the 12-team field.
“I was excited when San Rafael reached out to us to be a part of it,” TL coach Mike Crivello said. “We were honored to be included to be a part of the inaugural tournament. It’s a pretty star- studded lineup. … Having an opportunity to stay local and play big-time teams from big-time schools is just perfect.”
The other eight teams are Montgomery (Santa Rosa), Ukiah, Sonoma Valley, McClatchy (Sacramento), Everett Alvarez (Salinas), Newark Memorial, Granada (Livermore), and Richmond.
“Our focus was to kind of make the highest quality soccer invitational that we could with teams who play like us,” Brunet said. “We decided to invite Archie, Redwood and TL because all of those schools are super successful.
“We also wanted to go after some coaches that we’ve been following since we started coaching at SR, like Richmond and Montgomery. … If Montgomery and Richmond are playing locally, all of our coaches go and catch them because we have a lot of respect for them.”
Redwood and Montgomery made the North Coast Section Division I tournament last season. Newark Memorial and Richmond were both semifinalists in the NCS D-II playoffs. Almost half of the Mission City field – San Rafael, Archie Williams, Ukiah, TL, and Sonoma Valley – competed in the NCS D-III bracket. Ukiah eventually won the tournament, eliminating San Rafael in the semifinals and Archie Williams in the title game.
Some of the matchups are rematches from last year’s NCS playoffs. Terra Linda and Sonoma Valley meet in a D-III first-round rematch at 9 a.m. on Saturday. San Rafael and Ukiah are set to close out the invitational against each other at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Some of the other more anticipated matchups include Newark Memorial vs. Ukiah at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Montgomery vs. Richmond at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, and Redwood vs. Montgomery at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
“There’s some really good schools,” Crivello said. “It’s an impressive list and we’re just happy to be included in it. For casual soccer fans or kids around the area that want to check out some high-level soccer in their back yard, it’s great for Marin.”
The Mission City Invitational is the first soccer tournament of its kind to take place in Marin in at least the past two decades – perhaps ever. Former Tam coach Dustin Nygaard and current Montgomery coach Jon Schwan used to host the Bay City Invitational at Montgomery back when boys soccer was still a fall sport.
The San Rafael coaching staff is looking to donate some of the proceeds raised by the tournament – gate is $10 a day for general admission and $5 a day for students – to the Canal Alliance nonprofit organization
“Our goal is to donate some of our proceeds to their Wi-Fi in the Canal program,” Brunet said. “It’s a program that they are trying to get free Wi-Fi for everyone who lives in (the Canal District). We wanted to make sure we found a nonprofit and a program that impacted our community.”
“The Canal is a big part of our community,” De La Rosa said. “A good part of our students live there.”
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