SAN FRANCISCO - Pac-12 Men's Soccer begins the 2022 campaign with six matches on opening day Thursday, Aug. 25 and 10 total matches over the first weekend of action.

The Schedule

• Five of the league's six matches on Thursday will pit Pac-12 programs against schools from the Big West. UCLA will host Big West co-favorite UC Irvine, OREGON STATE will host UC Davis, CALIFORNIA will travel to Cal State Fullerton, SAN DIEGO STATE will be at CSUN, and WASHINGTON will host Sacramento State. 
• STANFORD will play the lone, non-Big West match on the season's first night when it hosts Villanova, which picked up its first NCAA Tournament victory last season.
• On Sunday, Virginia Tech, which along with Washington is one of five programs to make six consecutive NCAA Tournaments, will be at UCLA. To close out the weekend, California will host Villanova, LMU will be at San Diego State, and SMU will be at Stanford.
• Currently, 36 matches are set for broadcast on Pac-12 Networks this season beginning Thursday at 7 p.m. PT with UCLA welcoming UC Irvine on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Los Angeles. Additional matches will air on Pac-12 Insider, the free broadband streaming channel from Pac-12 Network. More men's soccer broadcast information for the opening weekend can be found here.

The Polls

• Three Pac-12 programs begin the season in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll in No. 3 Washington, No. 5 Oregon State and No. 23 UCLA. The three ranked teams are tied for second nationally only to the ACC's six teams. It’s the first time the Pac-12 has had two preseason top-5 teams since 2003, when UCLA opened at No. 1 and STANFORD was No. 3.
• The Beavers and Huskies, the nation's top two overall seeds in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, are co-favorites of the league in 2022 in the Pac-12 preseason coaches poll, with each side totaling 21 points. It's the Beavers' best appearance in the Conference's preseason poll, while Washington is atop the poll for the third time (2020, 2001). The preseason favorite has gone on to win the league title eight times in the 22 seasons of Pac-12 Men's Soccer, but not since 2018 (Stanford).
• UCLA, Stanford, San Diego State and California round out the poll. First-place votes were split between the Beavers (2), Huskies (1), Bruins (2) and Cardinal (1). It's the first time the Conference's available first-place votes have been shared by four teams. Three teams have received first-place votes in the preseason poll nine times, most recently in 2020.

The Watch Lists

• The Pac-12 has two members of Top Drawer Soccer's Preseason Best XI Teams in UW goalkeeper Sam Fowler (first team) and Husky midfielder Christian Soto (second team). San Diego State forward Calvin Fodrey and UCLA midfielder Tarun Karumanchi are also on the publications' Preseason Freshman Best XI. The Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy Watch List will be unveiled on Aug. 25. 
• For the first time, United Soccer Coaches announced preseason Players to Watch lists, released by the Division I All-America Committees to promote college soccer leading up to the regular season. The lists include United Soccer Coaches All-Americans and first or second-team All-Region players from 2021 who are scheduled to return in 2022. The Pac-12 had seven players land on the positional lists. 
  • GK - Sam Fowler - Washington
  • D - Nicolas Blassou - UCLA
  • D - Pietro Grassi - UCLA
  • M - Joran Gerbet - Oregon State
  • M - Tucker Lepley - UCLA
  • M - Inigo Villaldea - San Diego State
  • F - Nonso Adimabua - California
• In total, 16 of the 33 players awarded Pac-12 All-Conference recognition for the 2021 season (First Team - 3, Second Team - 4, Honorable Mention - 9) are slated to return to rosters for 2022, including all three honorees from San Diego State. UCLA and Washington lead the way with four all-conference returners apiece. 

Notes and Nuggets

• The Pac-12 sent three teams - Oregon State, Washington, UCLA - to the 2021 NCAA Tournament, marking the sixth consecutive year and eighth time in the past nine seasons the league advanced at least three teams to the postseason.
• The nation’s top RPI conference in 2021 also 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). It was the second time in Conference history the Pac-12 had 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.
• Over the past nine years, Pac-12 men's soccer has earned 31 out of a possible 54 NCAA Tournament bids across its six members, a 57 percent success rate bettered only by the 12-team ACC (65%, 70-108).
• The six-team Pac-12 has had a College Cup representative in six of the last eight seasons (UCLA 2014; Stanford 2015-17, 2019; Washington 2021). Only the 12-team ACC has had more total appearances (12) than the Pac-12's six over that span.
• The Pac-12 boasts two of the top seven (Jeremy Gunn, Jamie Clark) winningest active coaches by percentage in NCAA Division I, while a third is a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year (Terry Boss).
• Pac-12 student-athletes have won three of the last eight MAC Hermann Trophy awards – Oregon State’s Gloire Amanda (2020), Stanford’s Jordan Morris (2015) and UCLA’s Leo Stolz (2014).
• The Pac-12 has produced 20 First Team All-Americans in the nine seasons since 2013 after amassing only 15 from 2000-2012.
• Since expanding beyond two rounds in 2014, 72 Pac-12 student-athletes have been selected in the MLS SuperDraft, including four years of double-digit selections (2014, 2015, 2019, 2022).

More Pac-12 Men's Soccer

• Everything you need to know about the Pac-12's men's soccer teams for 2022 - Gabe Lehman, Pac-12.com (August 23)