Hector “Keko” Grajeda
GK & Assistant Coach - Sacramento State University
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.