UCLA Hosts Michigan In Big Ten Home Opener Friday
The UCLA men\u2019s soccer team returns to Wallis Annenberg Stadium to host Michigan on Friday evening for the squad’s Big Ten home opener. Kickoff is set for 7 pm PT, and the match will be broadcast on B1G+.<\/p>\n
Undefeated in Non-Conference Action<\/p>\n
UCLA moved to 3-0-2 in non-conference action with a 2-1 win over Omaha on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
Omaha opened the scoring late on in the first half before Cameron Arnold<\/a> tallied his first goal as a Bruin to tie it in the 65th minute. Shakir Nixon<\/a> then added a penalty kick in the 80th minute to earn the 2-1 win. \u00a0<\/p>\n UCLA Draws at Cal Philip Naef<\/a> made his second appearance of the season and provided assists on both of UCLA\u2019s goals. \u00a0<\/p>\n Bruins Knock Off Denver Goals from Tamir Ratoviz<\/a>, Diego Castano<\/a> and Shakir Nixon<\/a> gave UCLA the win. \u00a0<\/p>\n Last Time Out Against Michigan<\/p>\n UCLA and Michigan have met four times in their history, and most recently met in the Big Ten Tournament title game in 2025 in College Park, Maryland.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A Day of Firsts \u00a0<\/p>\n 2025 In Review<\/p>\n The Bruins finished fourth in their second year in the Big Ten, won the Big Ten Tournament, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth year in a row. UCLA in Season Openers \u00a0<\/p>\n One to Watch \u00a0<\/p>\n Naef, Roche, Wright Selected to Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch List<\/p>\n Naef enters his senior season in 2026 having already set records in assists during his sophomore and junior seasons. Naef became the first Bruin to record four or more assists in a single game twice in his career after tallying four assists in UCLA\u2019s 5-2 win over Rutgers during the 2025 season, after also recording four assists in UCLA\u2019s Big Ten Tournament game against Maryland in 2024. For his career, Naef has played in 45 matches as a Bruin, started 14 games, recorded one goal and 21 assists.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Roche begins his second season in Westwood in 2026 after helping the Bruins to a Big Ten Tournament crown in 2025. Roche transferred to UCLA after two seasons at Virginia Tech, where he tallied nine goals over 34 appearances, and added five goals and an assist across 16 appearances in 2025.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Wright enters his senior season in 2026 after being drafted by Real Salt Lake in the second round, 33rd overall. The Austin, Texas native has played in 35 matches as a Bruin, and made 18 starts, primarily at centerback. Wright broke out during the 2025 season where he played in 19 games, made 18 starts, and recorded three assists.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bruins in Top Drawer Soccer Top 100 Player Rankings UCLA Picked Fourth in Big Ten Preseason Coaches\u2019 Poll Maryland Welcome to Westwood \u00a0<\/p>\n Jaime Amaro<\/a> (Bryant) \u2013 A Spanish international, Amaro was a Third-Team All-American at Bryant University last year, where he recorded 10 goals and seven assists. Bring on the Big Ten Bruins on The Big Ten Network Bruins on B1G+<\/p>\n Twelve of UCLA\u2019s matches will be broadcast on B1G+ ($) in 2026, including UCLA\u2019s home opener on August 24 at 7 pm PT against CSU Bakersfield.<\/p>\n O\u2019Keefe, Whitney Added to the Staff<\/p>\n The UCLA men\u2019s soccer program hired Joey O\u2019Keefe<\/a> and Kary Whitney<\/a> as assistant coaches in the spring.<\/p>\n Joey O\u2019Keefe<\/a> joined the coaching staff after serving for five seasons as the head coach at Biola University. During his tenure at Biola, O\u2019Keefe guided the Eagles to a PacWest Conference regular-season championship and two NCAA Division II Championship appearances. Under his leadership, the program produced multiple All-Americans, all-region selections, conference award winners, and numerous Academic All-PacWest honorees while establishing a culture centered on player development and competitive excellence. O\u2019Keefe compiled a 37-35-17 overall record as head coach and helped elevate Biola into one of the top programs in the PacWest Conference. UCLA Earns Team Academic Award From United Soccer Coaches<\/p>\n Just before the start of the new campaign, UCLA earned a team academic award from United Soccer Coaches for the 2025-26 season. The Bruins posted a strong 3.36 team GPA, marking the eighth consecutive year that the program has qualified for the honor (teams must post a collective GPA of 3.00 or higher). UCLA has picked up the honor every season under eighth-year head coach Ryan Jorden<\/a>. <\/p>\n Bruins in Professional Soccer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n The Bruins have 10 alumni in the MLS ranks at the start of the 2025 season. Frankie Amaya<\/a> is at CF Montreal, Ryan Hollingshead<\/a> plays for LAFC, Reggie Cannon<\/a> is with the Colorado Rapids, Nicholas Cavallo<\/a> is at New York City FC, Earl Edwards Jr.<\/a> plays for the San Jose Earthquakes, Milan Iloski<\/a> plays for the Philadelphia Union, Tarun Karumanchi<\/a> was drafted by the Columbus Crew, Tucker Lepley<\/a> is with the LA Galaxy where he won the MLS Cup in 2024, Sergi Solans Ormo<\/a> is at Real Salt Lake, and Jackson Yueill<\/a> is with the New England Revolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n Follow Along on Social <\/p>\n Stay up-to-date on all things UCLA men\u2019s soccer by following @UCLAMSoccer on Instagram and Twitter. The Bruins rank second in the country among men\u2019s soccer programs in Instagram followers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UCLA Hosts Michigan In Big Ten Home Opener FridayThe UCLA men\u2019s soccer team returns to Wallis Annenberg Stadium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-898402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe last time the Bruins were unbeaten in their first five matches was 2000, when UCLA opened the season 8-0-0.<\/p>\n
UCLA improved to 2-0-2 in non-conference action with a 2-2 draw at California<\/p>\n
\nJaime Amaro<\/a> recorded his first goal of the year to tie the match at 1-1, while Shakir Nixon<\/a> added his second goal of the year to put UCLA in front 2-1 before the Golden Bears tied it back up at 2-2.<\/p>\n
UCLA continued its strong start to non-conference action with a 3-0 win over Denver on Friday evening.<\/p>\n
\nCastano tallied his first career collegiate assist and goal in the win.\u00a0
\nNixon buried a penalty and provided an assist on UCLA\u2019s opening goal. \u00a0
\nJunior Tamir Ratoviz<\/a> opened the scoring for the Bruins, and scored for the first time since 2024 in the process. Ratoviz missed most of the 2025 season due to injury, and just recently came back from injury.<\/p>\n
UCLA knocked off No. 11 Virginia on the road to open the 2026 season on Thursday. Goals from Zach Neuls<\/a> and Logan Hall<\/a> provided the difference.<\/p>\n
\nUCLA went 8-6-5 overall on the year, and 5-3-2 in conference play
\nAfter the season Sergi Solans Ormo<\/a> was named Second-Team All-American, Most Outstanding Player at the Big Ten Tournament, and scored 16 goals and provided six assists on the year.
\nTre Wright<\/a>, Schinieder Mimy<\/a>, and Tarun Karumanchi<\/a> were all drafted in the second round of the MLS SuperDraft. 2025 marks the fifth year in a row that a Bruin has been drafted or signed a homegrown contract in MLS.
\nThe Bruins\u2019 best results of the season came during the Big Ten Tournament when UCLA beat No. 1 ranked and No. 1 overall seed Maryland on the road, 2-0, before taking down No. 3 seed Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament final, 5-0. The trophy marked the second time in three seasons that UCLA had won a conference title (2023 Pac-12 Regular Season, 2025 Big Ten Tournament).
\nTo close the season freshman midfielder Ander Marticorena<\/a> earned All-Big Ten Freshman Team honors, while Solans Ormo earned first-team All-Conference honors.<\/p>\n
The Bruins are 44-10-6 all-time in season openers (for the years in which game-by-game results are available). The Bruins are 6-2-0 in season openers under eighth-year head coach Ryan Jorden<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Transfer Jaime Amaro<\/a> has been named to the Mac Hermann Midfielders to Watch list for the 2026 season. Amaro spent the 2025 season at Bryant where he recorded 10 goals and seven assists, and was named a Third Team All-American at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
UCLA\u2019s Jaime Amaro<\/a> and Tre Wright<\/a> were named to Top Drawer Soccer\u2019s rankings of the top-100 players to watch in the country. Amaro, a junior forward was ranked 14th on the list and was also named to the TopDrawerSoccer Best XI Preseason second team, while Wright was listed 48th on the watchlist.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
UCLA was tabbed to finish fourth in a preseason poll of the Big Ten coaches.
1. Washington<\/p>\n
\nIndiana
\n UCLA
\nMichigan
\nOhio State
\nRutgers
\nNorthwestern
\nWisconsin
\nMichigan State
\nPenn State<\/p>\n
Head Coach Ryan Jorden<\/a> welcomes 16 newcomers to the squad for the 2026 season. The newcomers include seven collegiate transfers, six international transfers, and three freshmen.<\/p>\n
\nCameron Arnold<\/a> (JMU) \u2013 Transfers to UCLA after three seasons at JMU, where he recorded 13 goals and nine assists for 35 points across those three seasons.
\nDavid de la Vibora<\/a> (Marshall) \u2013 Played in 21 matches and made 20 starts for Marshall as a redshirt freshman in 2025, where he tallied four goals and two assists for 10 points on the season. Vibora earned second-team All-Sun Belt honors during his lone season with the Thundering Hurd.
\nLogan Hall<\/a> (Jacksonville University) \u2013 Played in 17 matches and made 14 starts for Jacksonville University as a true freshman in 2025, where he became the first player in program history to earn ASUN Freshman of the Year honors and also earned ASUN All-Freshman Team honors.
\nDylan Hooper<\/a> (Stanford) \u2013 Appeared in 46 matches, starting in 39 across his three seasons at Stanford, and played a total of 3,393 minutes, playing a career-high season in 2024 with 1,176 minutes at center back.
\nZach Neuls<\/a> (UC Davis) \u2013 Appeared in 36 matches and made 19 starts over the past two seasons at UC Davis where he scored a total of six goals with two game-winning goals for the Aggies.
\nMathis Richter<\/a> (Univ. of Alabama-Birmingham) \u2013 Started and appeared in 25 matches over his two seasons at UAB. He was named American Conference Freshman of the Year in 2024 and also earned All-Rookie Team his freshman year while playing at centerback.<\/p>\n
UCLA men\u2019s soccer begins its third season as a member of the Big Ten Conference on Thursday evening. The Bruins boast winning records against five current Big Ten schools. UCLA\u2019s first conference match will be on Sept. 11 when UCLA plays at Rutgers. <\/p>\n
UCLA will have two games broadcast on the Big Ten Network in 2026. UCLA\u2019s road matches at Penn State and at Northwestern will be carried on the network.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nWhitney leads the instruction of the Bruin goalkeepers and comes to UCLA after spending the last four seasons as an assistant coach with the Washington women\u2019s program, where the Huskies made a final four appearance in 2025 and earned an NCAA Tournament berth in 2024. Under Whitney, Washington boasted some of the great goalkeeping units across the nation, posting a 0.89 goals against average over the last four seasons. After matching the school record for single-season shutouts with 11 in 2024, Washington posted 12 clean sheets in 2025. Following the season, Whitney and the rest of Washington\u2019s staff were named the United Soccer Coaches North Region Staff of the Year.<\/p>\n