The UCLA men’s soccer team is set to host California in its 2025 home opener at Wallis Annenberg Stadium on Sunday, August 24, at 7:00 p.m. PT. The Bruins lead the all-time series against California with a record of 50-20-9. In their last meetings during the 2023 season, UCLA won at home and tied on the road, contributing to their Pac-12 title that year.
UCLA has a strong history in home openers, posting a 6-2-2 record over the past decade and going 4-1-1 under head coach Ryan Jorden. Jorden is entering his seventh year with the program.
Reflecting on the previous season, UCLA finished sixth in its first year competing in the Big Ten Conference and made its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The team ended with an overall record of 7-6-6 and went 3-4-3 in conference play. Notably, Nicholas Cavallo was selected by New York City FC in the third round of the MLS SuperDraft, marking four straight years that a Bruin has moved on to Major League Soccer through either the draft or a homegrown contract.
One highlight from last season was a comeback win over then No. 2 Ohio State, which was Ohio State’s only regular-season loss. Senior midfielder Andre Ochoa earned second team All-North region honors, while Ochoa, Cavallo, and Allan Legaspi received Big Ten recognition. The Bruins faced one of the toughest schedules nationally in 2024, playing ten ranked teams and recording a 4-2-4 mark in those matches.
For the upcoming season, Drew Brown (transfer from Wisconsin), Tamir Ratoviz (returning sophomore), and Sergi Solans Ormo (transfer from Oregon State) were named to the Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch list. Brown brings experience from Wisconsin’s defense; Ratoviz led all UCLA freshmen in points last year; Solans Ormo was recently drafted by Real Salt Lake after earning All-America honors at Oregon State.
In preseason polls conducted by Big Ten coaches, UCLA was picked to finish fourth behind Indiana, Maryland, and Ohio State.
Sophomore forward Sergi Solans Ormo also appears on TopDrawerSoccer’s top-100 players list for college soccer and was named to their Best XI Preseason second team.
Head coach Ryan Jorden welcomes what is considered by TopDrawerSoccer as the nation’s top recruiting class for 2025—18 newcomers including eleven freshmen and seven transfers join this year’s roster.
Among these new arrivals are Adrian Aguilar (LAFC Academy), Francis Bonsu (Gatorade High School Player of the Year for New York), Drew Brown (Wisconsin transfer), Oliver Roche (Virginia Tech transfer), Sean Sent (Washington transfer), and others who bring experience from collegiate programs or elite youth academies across North America and Europe.
The Bruins will honor their historic 1985 NCAA National Championship team at halftime during Sunday’s match. That squad captured UCLA’s first national title after defeating American University in what remains the longest NCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship game ever played.
This season’s roster includes eight student-athletes with international backgrounds representing Denmark, Spain, Canada, Cyprus, Ghana, and Ukraine.
UCLA begins its second campaign as part of the Big Ten Conference this fall. Their first conference match is scheduled for September 12 against Northwestern. The Bruins have winning records against five current Big Ten schools.
Six games will be broadcast nationally on Big Ten Network during the season—including home matches versus Wisconsin and Maryland—and five additional matches will air on B1G+, starting with Sunday’s opener against California.
The coaching staff added Sergi Nus as an assistant coach earlier this year. Nus previously spent three seasons at Oregon State where he helped guide them to three NCAA Tournament appearances—including a College Cup run—and coached several future MLS players.
UCLA recently received a team academic award from United Soccer Coaches for maintaining a collective GPA above 3.0 for eight consecutive years under Coach Jorden’s leadership.
At the start of this MLS season nine former Bruins were active within Major League Soccer clubs across North America—including Frankie Amaya (LAFC), Ryan Hollingshead (LAFC), Reggie Cannon (Colorado Rapids), Nicholas Cavallo (New York City FC), Earl Edwards Jr. (San Jose Earthquakes), Milan Iloski (Philadelphia Union), Tucker Lepley (LA Galaxy), Tommy Silva (Real Salt Lake), and Jackson Yueill (New England Revolution).
Fans can follow updates about UCLA men’s soccer via @UCLAMSoccer on Instagram and Twitter; according to recent figures they rank second among men’s soccer programs nationwide in Instagram followers.
