The California Golden Bears men’s soccer team will begin its 2025 season with two away matches, facing Saint Mary’s on Thursday and UCLA on Sunday. The opener against Saint Mary’s is scheduled for August 21 at 5:00 p.m. in Moraga, California, with the match available via live stream on ESPN+ and live stats provided by Statbroadcast. The team will then travel to Los Angeles to play UCLA at Wallis Annenberg Stadium on August 24 at 7:00 p.m., with broadcast details yet to be announced.
Last October, Cal defeated Saint Mary’s 4-2 at home. The upcoming game against UCLA marks the first meeting between the teams since both were members of the Pac-12 Conference in 2023.
Head coach Leonard Griffin leads a roster that includes returning sophomore forward Malcolm Zalayet, who led the team last year with four goals and four assists. Alfredo Ortiz, another sophomore, was fourth in scoring for Cal last season and was recently named to the Preseason All-ACC team as voted by conference head coaches. Graduate student goalkeeper Connor Lambe returns after posting a goals-against average of 1.06 over twelve games in 2023.
In their inaugural ACC season in 2024, Cal achieved notable results such as a win over top-ranked Pitt and three consecutive road victories against ranked opponents. Kevin Carmichael scored in a key win against Stanford to close out the regular season before Cal entered the ACC Championship tournament. There, they upset No. 14 North Carolina and No. 2 Duke before falling narrowly to No. 7 Clemson, finishing with an overall record of eight wins, eight losses, and two draws.
Several players received recognition for their performances last season: Carmichael and Nonso Adimabua earned spots on All-ACC teams; Marco Brougher was named CSC Academic All-America; ten players made the All-ACC Academic Team; Santiago Hopkins received the Luke Kreinberg North Star Achievement Award; Arik Duncan was selected by CF Montreal in the MLS SuperDraft; while Carmichael and Wyatt Meyer—drafted previously by Nashville SC—and Adimabua began professional careers.
“Earlier this week he was named to the Preseason All-ACC team as voted on by the conference’s head coaches.”
Fans can follow updates about Cal men’s soccer through X (@CalMSoc), Instagram (@CalMSoc), or Facebook (/CalMSoc).
