# #

Pac-12 Men's Soccer Weekly Rundown - Aug. 23, 2023

by Pac-12 Conference
Aug 23, 2023

Schedule | Standings | Pac-12 Statistics | NCAA Statistics | Pac-12 Record Book

Week 1 Fixtures

  • The opening week of Pac-12 Men's Soccer will put all six programs to the test and could prove pivotal to the league's collective success this season.
  • All six programs will be in action twice during the debut week, with 9-of-12 matches coming against teams which participated in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, five against preseason top-25 opponents, and five coming away from home venues.
  • STANFORD and CALIFORNIA have two of the more difficult opening weekends nationally as the Cardinal host No. 8 Creighton, fresh off a trip to the 2022 NCAA College Cup, and No. 17 Georgetown, the 2022 Big East regular season champion, while the Golden Bears travel to No. 10 UNCG, a 2022 NCAA quarterfinalist, and perennial ACC power No. 18 Wake Forest.
  • Half of this week's dozen matches will be broadcast on either Pac-12 Networks or Pac-12 Insider. For the season, 33 matches are set for broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.

Thursday, August 24     
UCLA vs. Virginia Tech - 1 p.m. PT     
#8 Creighton at #7 Stanford - 3 p.m. PT - Pac-12 Network      
California at #10 UNCG - 4:00 p.m. PT      
#21 FIU at Oregon State - 5 p.m. PT - Pac-12 Network      
San Diego State at Denver - 6 p.m. PT      
South Florida at Washington - 7:30 p.m. PT - Pac-12 Washington 

Sunday, August 27     
#17 Georgetown at #7 Stanford - 1 p.m. PT - Pac-12 Network     
UC Riverside at Oregon State - 3 p.m. PT - Pac-12 Network     
California at #18 Wake Forest - 4 p.m. PT - ACCNX     
UCLA at JMU - 4 p.m. PT     
San Diego at Washington - 4 p.m. PT - Pac-12 Insider  

Monday, August 28     
CSU Bakersfield at San Diego State - 7 p.m. PT

Non-Conference Fixtures

  • Along with the challenging opening week of matches, Pac-12 Men's Soccer programs will face additional tough tests throughout non-conference play.
  • In total, the six Pac-12 programs will take on the following as part of their combined 45 non-conference matches (44 vs. NCAA Division I opponents):
    • 9 non-conference opponents ranked in preseason top 25
    • 19 non-conference opponents which made 2022 NCAA Tournament
    • 19 non-conference matches away from home, more than 40 percent (42%) of all OOC contests

Non-Conference Opponents in 2022 NCAA Tournament/Preseason Top 25    
California (5/3) - at #10 UNCG, at #18 Wake Forest, FDU, at Cal Baptist, #13 Portland     
Oregon State (3/2) - #21 FIU, UC Riverside, #13 Portland     
San Diego State (3/0) - at Denver, UC Riverside, San Diego     
Stanford (2/2) - #8 Creighton, #17 Georgetown     
UCLA (1/0) - Rutgers     
Washington (5/2) - South Florida, San Diego, at #2 Indiana, at Ohio State, #13 Portland

Pair in Preseason Top 25

  • No. 6 Washington and No. 7 Stanford pace the Pac-12 in the preseason United Soccer Coaches national rankings. 
  • The Huskies finished the 2022 campaign at No. 11 in the final United Coaches ranking, snapping a streak of 44 consecutive top-10 poll appearances. UW has appeared in the top 25 for 49 consecutive polls, a streak dating to Week 1 of the 2019 season (Sept. 3). 
  • The Cardinal also finished seventh in the final 2022 poll and has now appeared in the top 10 for 13 straight polls.

Preseason Prognosticating

  • The Pac-12 head coaches made their preseason picks for the predicted order of finish, as well as their choices for preseason starting XI.
  • Washington was selected the favorite for the second consecutive season and third time in four years.
  • The Huskies led the starting XI with four selections, headlined by a trio of standouts also named to the United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch.
  • TopDrawerSoccer ranked its top 100 players in collegiate men's soccer, with the six-team Pac-12 landing the second-most players (10) among conferences including the top player in the country:
    • 1. Christian Soto, M, Washington
    • 6. Tommy Silva, D, UCLA
    • 23. Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, M, Washington
    • 33. Sam Fowler, GK, Washington
    • 41. Ryan Becher, M, UCLA
    • 45. Reid Sproat, D, San Diego State
    • 54. Tucker Lepley, F, UCLA
    • 57. Logan Farrington, F, Oregon State
    • 77. Peter Kingston, M, Washington
    • 89. Will Cleary, M, Stanford
  • The Pac-12 was represented by UW's Soto and Fowler on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List announced Aug. 24; Fowler was 1-of-3 goalkeepers on the 37-player list.

Portal Potential  

  • Along with 13 returning All-Conference performers, Pac-12 programs restocked their rosters via the transfer portal this offseason, landing 13 all-league level players from around the country.

Stanford    
Louis Weisdorf - Ivy League Honorable Mention 2022 (Dartmouth)

Washington     
Bryan Iliohan - WAC First Team 2022 (Cal Baptist)

Oregon State     
Logan Farrington - Horizon League First Team 2022 (Milwaukee)     
Mateo Palomino - WAC All-Freshman 2021 (Utah Valley)

San Diego State     
Christian Engmann - WCC First Team 2020, Honorable Mention 2022 (Saint Mary's)     
Seth Clark - Two-time ASUN Second Team 2020 & 2021 (Liberty)     
Alexander Levengood - Three-time CAA First Team 2020-22 (William & Mary)     
Reid Sproat - Three-time All-Horizon League 2020-22 (Oakland)

UCLA     
Sean Karani - AAC First Team 2020 (Temple)     
Jack Sarkos - Two-time Patriot League First Team (Lehigh)     
Ryan Becher - Two-time All-America East (UMBC), third in D-I with 36 pts (13g/10a) in 2022     
Oshea Foster - WCC Honorable Mention (San Diego)     
Owen Schwartz - Two-time All-Ivy League (Brown)

Career Records Watch  

  • Washington goalkeeper Sam Fowler has a chance to become the Pac-12’s all-time leader in both career shutouts and GAA (Goals Against Average) to cap off his Husky career. He enters his senior campaign third on the Conference's clean sheets list (25, five behind Spencer Richey's Pac-12 record 30) and fourth in GAA (0.73, within range of Andrew Thomas' record 0.67), marks easily attainable considering the Huskies return the bulk of their back line in Khai Brisco, Nate Jones, Chris Meyers and Gabe Threadgold.
  • In his junior year - a season limited to 14 matches due to injury - he finished with a 0.80 GAA and maintained four clean sheets on his way to earning First Team honors on the 2022 United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region team.

Notes & Nuggets

  • The Pac-12 has rated as NCAA Division I's top RPI conference each of the past two seasons (2021, 2022).
  • In 2022, the Pac-12 had three top-10 seeds (#2 Washington, #5 Stanford, #8 Oregon State) among its four teams in the NCAA Tournament, just the second time in league history with a trio of single-digit seeds (2013).
  • In 2021, the Pac-12 had the nation’s top two teams in the RPI (#1 Washington, #2 Oregon State) and the top two seeds in the NCAA Tournament (#1 Oregon State, #2 Washington).
    • Was the second time in Conference history with the NCAA Tournament's top two overall national seeds along with 2013 (#1 UCLA, #2 California).
    • The Pac-12 and ACC (nine times since seeding began in 1994) are the only leagues to have the top two overall national seeds.
  • The Pac-12 has advanced at least half its six teams to the postseason for seven consecutive years and nine times in the past decade.
  • Over the past 10 years, Pac-12 men's soccer has earned 35 out of a possible 60 NCAA Tournament bids across its six members, a 58 percent success rate bettered only by the 12-team ACC (65%, 78-120).
  • The six-team Pac-12 has had a College Cup representative in six of the last nine seasons (UCLA 2014; Stanford 2015-17, 2019; Washington 2021). Only the 12-team ACC has had more total College Cup appearances (14) than the Pac-12's six over that span.
  • Pac-12 programs have combined for 23 College Cup appearances (national semifinals) all-time, including 11 since the formal creation of the league in 2000.
  • Pac-12 programs have combined for seven NCAA Men's Soccer national championships, and four since sport sponsorship began in 2000.
  • The Pac-12 boasts two of the top five (#4 Jeremy Gunn, #5 Jamie Clark) winningest active coaches by percentage in NCAA Division I.
  • Pac-12 student-athletes have won three of the last nine MAC Hermann Trophy awards – Oregon State’s Gloire Amanda (2020), Stanford’s Jordan Morris (2015) and UCLA’s Leo Stolz (2014) – and four in total (UCLA’s Brad Friedel, 1992).
  • The Pac-12 has produced 22 First Team All-Americans in the past decade after amassing only 15 from 2000-2012.
  • Since expanding beyond two rounds in 2014, 76 Pac-12 student-athletes have been selected in the MLS SuperDraft, including four years of double-digit selections (2014, 2015, 2019, 2022).

Related News & Videos