UCLA Opens 2026 Home Slate Against CSU Bakersfield
The UCLA men\u2019s soccer team returns to Wallis Annenberg Stadium for the first time in 2026 on Monday evening, hosting CSU Bakersfield. Kickoff is set for 7 m PT, and the match will be broadcast on B1G+. \u00a0<\/p>\n
2025 In Review<\/p>\n
The goals were both scored by transfers who were both playing in their first career games as a Bruin.\u00a0 UCLA IN SEASON OPENERS One to Watch Naef, Roche, Wright Selected to BIG TEN Preseason players to watch list<\/p>\n Washington Bruins in Top Drawer Soccer Top 100 Player Rankings Welcome to Westwood 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 B1G Ten Bruins on The Big Ten Network Bruins on B1G+ O\u2019Keefe, Whitney Added to the Staff 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 Bruins in Professional Soccer\u00a0 \u00a0 Follow Along on Social
\nSix Bruins earned their first starts in Blue and Gold as Cameron Arnold<\/a>, Zach Neuls<\/a>, David de la Vibora<\/a>, Jaime Amaro<\/a>, Mathis Richter<\/a> and Victor Ciaurriz<\/a> all started. Diego Martinez<\/a>, Finot Pie<\/a>, Marcus Jackson<\/a> and Loan Hall all made their first appearances for UCLA off the bench. \u00a0
\nNeul\u2019s goal was his first as a Bruin and the seventh of his career, while Hall\u2019s goal was his first as a Bruin and the second of his career.<\/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
\nMaryland
\nIndiana
\nUCLA
\nMichigan
\nOhio State
\nRutgers
\nNorthwestern
\nWisconsin
\nMichigan State
\nPenn State<\/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
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. <\/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
The UCLA men\u2019s soccer program hired Joey O\u2019Keefe<\/a> and Kary Whitney<\/a> as assistant coaches in the spring.<\/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
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 eighthh 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
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. <\/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 Opens 2026 Home Slate Against CSU BakersfieldThe UCLA men\u2019s soccer team returns to Wallis Annenberg Stadium for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-439774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}