OREM, Utah — The Utah Valley men's soccer team kicks off the regular season with a home match against UC Riverside on Thursday, August 25 at Clyde Field. The non-conference matchup is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. MDT. Thursday's game is the second half of a doubleheader with the women's soccer team, who will be facing UCF at 5:00 P.M. MDT.
UVU returns 14 players, including six starters from the 2021 squad that went 9-6-2 and 6-4 in conference play. Reigning WAC Freshman of the Year Diego Castillo, as well as fellow WAC All-Freshman honorees Jason Smith, Mateo Palomino, and Alejandro Silva all return for their sophomore seasons.
Utah Valley was picked to finish fourth in the Preseason Coaches Poll. Castillo and Silva were named to the Preseason All-WAC team. Castillo was also named to Top Drawer Soccer's Freshman Best XI second team and College Soccer News' All-Freshman third team. Silva is a two-time All-WAC honoree, earning second team honors in the fall and honorable mention accolades in the spring.
Last season's leading goal scorer Aaron Nixon also returns for his junior season. The junior from West Jordan led the Wolverines with eight goals last year and added three assists. Nixon had a flair for the dramatic with a team-high three game-winning goals and a bicycle kick goal against CSUN that earned him the No. 2 spot on that night's SportsCenter Top 10 Plays.
BROADCAST INFO
Thursday's match will be streamed on ESPN+. International viewers can stream the game at WACInternational.tv.
ABOUT UC RIVERSIDE
UC Riverside competes in the Big West Conference. The Highlanders went 9-7-3 and 3-4-2 in Big West play, finishing sixth in the conference. The Highlanders made it to the Big West Tournament semifinals, where they lost a heartbreaker to rival UC Irvine on penalty kicks. 2021 leading goal-scorer Oscar Penate returns for his senior season with the Highlanders. Penate's five goals tied for the team lead despite playing the 10th-most minutes on the team.
SERIES HISTORY VS UC RIVERSIDE
The Wolverines and Highlanders have met once on the pitch, a 1-0 win for UVU at the UNLV Rebel Classic in the inaugural 2014 season. Matt Gay scored the lone goal for the Wolverines in the 49th minute.
HISTORY IN SEASON OPENERS
Utah Valley has never lost a season opener in program history. The Wolverines are 8-0-1 in season openers, with the lone draw coming in last season's opener against Canisius. Utah Valley is a perfect 5-0 in season openers at Clyde Field.
2014- vs Massachusetts, W, 5-1
2015- at Massachusetts, W, 1-0 (OT)
2016- vs No. 20 Washington, W, 2-1
2017- vs No. 13 Akron, W, 1-0
2018- vs Evansville, W, 4-0
2019- vs Cal Poly, W, 1-0
2020- vs Westminster, W, 3-2 (at Zions Bank Indoor Training Field)
2021- at Canisius, T, 1-1 (2OT)
