The California men’s soccer team, currently ranked 17th in the nation, is set to begin its home schedule at Edwards Stadium following two victories on the road. The Golden Bears (2-0) will host San Francisco on Thursday and UC San Diego on Sunday. Admission to both matches is free.
Thursday’s match against USF (1-1-0) will take place at 4 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on ACCNX, with live statistics available through StatBroadcast. Sunday’s game against UC San Diego (0-2-0) is also scheduled for 4 p.m. PT at Edwards Stadium and will be part of a doubleheader with the Cal women’s soccer team, which faces Arizona earlier that day.
The Bears earned their No. 17 national ranking in the first United Soccer Coaches poll of the regular season. “Cal is one of 10 ACC teams ranked in the pool, including No. 3 Pitt, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Wake Forest, No. 6 Clemson, No. 8 NC State, No. 9 Duke, No. 11 Virginia, No. 12 Virginia Tech and No. 15 North Carolina,” according to the release.
Luka Lukic was recognized as the ACC Offensive Player of the Week after scoring three goals in his first two games with Cal as a graduate student transfer from UC Riverside: “Cal forward Luka Lukic was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week for the first week of the season, the conference announced Tuesday, after he scored three goals in his first two games as a Golden Bear.” Lukic leads Cal in goals (3), points (6), shots (8), and shares the lead in game-winning goals.
In last week’s opener against Saint Mary’s, Lukic scored twice—once heading in a corner kick from Kieran Bracken Serra and later converting a penalty kick—helping secure a 3-2 win for Cal with Cam Wilkerson scoring the deciding goal.
Against UCLA on Sunday, another corner from Bracken Serra allowed Lukic to score late in regulation for a 1-0 victory: “At the 89:42 mark of Sunday’s game in Los Angeles, Cal capped a strong second-half performance when another Bracken Serra corner kick set up Lukic’s strike to beat the Bruins.”
Senior defender Alfredo Ortiz has been named to the ACC Preseason Watch List after contributing significantly during his first season at Cal last year: “Senior defender Alfredo Ortiz was one of 15 players named to the ACC Preseason Watch List.” Ortiz scored three goals and provided an assist while starting most matches last season and netted a key penalty kick that sent Cal past North Carolina into last year’s ACC quarterfinals.
San Francisco opened its season with a win over UC Davis but lost its next match against Indiana despite early goals from Brayden Beason and David Raphael giving them an initial lead.
UC San Diego started its campaign with losses against Furman and Duke during matches held in Durham, North Carolina.
After this homestand concludes Sunday, Cal will travel east to face Boston College on September 7 for its Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
For continued updates on California men’s soccer activities and results, fans are encouraged to follow official team accounts on X (@CalMSoc), Instagram (@CalMSoc), and Facebook (/CalMSoc/).
