Utah Valley officially opens the 2026 season on Thursday when the Wolverines host the Pacific Tigers in head coach Michael Chesler’s first game at the helm.
Thursday’s match will be a showdown between two debut head coaches, with Chesler piloting the Wolverines for the first time after being an assistant at UVU for nine seasons, and Pacific’s Andres Ochoa making his touchline debut for his alma mater.
GAME DAY INFO
- MATCHUP: Utah Valley (0-0, 0-0 BW) vs Pacific (0-0, 0-0 WCC)
- KICKOFF: 7 p.m. MDT
- GATES OPEN: 6 p.m. MDT
- TICKETS: GoUVU.com/GetTix
- LIVE STREAM: ESPN+
- LIVE STATS: GoUVU.com/stats
SEASON PREVIEW
Chesler will have plenty of experience at his disposal in his first season as head coach, returning six starters and 12 players overall from the 2025 squad. Additionally, Chesler brought in 11 newcomers who have at least two years of collegiate experience.
On the defensive side, senior goalkeeper Kolby Sessions will look to build off his historic debut campaign as a Wolverine after tying the single-season shutouts record and ranking among the best keepers in the nation in save percentage (34th, .778) and goals against average (15th, 0.73). Aiding Sessions on the backline is stalwart center back Toke Amtrup, who is the leading returner in minutes played with 1,273 out of a possible 1,350 and is the only returner who started every game in 2025. Amtrup was the lone Wolverine named to the Big West Preseason Coaches’ Team.
On the offensive side, the Wolverines return three of their top scoring threats in Nil Grau, Noah Pogue, and Jose Luis Martin Montealegre. Grau (5G/2A) and Pogue (4G/2A) each registered at least 10 points in 2025, marking the first time since 2022 that the Wolverines return multiple 10-point scorers from a previous season. Montealegre (2G/5A) is the team's leading returner in assists and will look to help fill the creative void left by the departure of wing back Keegan Oyler, who now plays professionally for AC Boise.
Among the "newcomers" is a familiar face in 2022 WAC Freshman of the Year Owen Knecht, who returns to the team after serving a two-year Church mission to Paraguay. Knecht, who will operate primarily as a wing back, registered six goals and six assists across the 2022-23 seasons, including a team-leading five assists in 2023.
Seven of the newcomers come to Orem from the JUCO ranks, including an NJCAA national champion in Indian Hills CC transfer midfielder Adem Arous. Arous defeated fellow debutant midfielder Bismark Ayamba and Daytona State to win the 2025 championship.
Grad transfer defender Edgar Correia brings a high-profile pedigree to UVU in his final collegiate season. Prior to spending two years apiece at Central Arkansas and IU-Indy (formerly IUPUI), Correia played for the S.C. Braga and Benfica academies in his native Portugal. Correia is good friends with two-time Champions League winner João Neves, who currently plays with Paris Saint-Germain, and AFC Bournemouth star Antonio Silva, who both play for the Portugal National Team. The trio played for the same academy teams at Benfica while growing up.
HISTORY VS PACIFIC
The Tigers and Wolverines have met twice all-time, with UVU leading 1-0-1. The last meeting was a 2-2 tie at Clyde Field in 2023, with the Wolverines winning the only other matchup in Las Vegas in 2015, 2-1 in overtime. That last meeting in 2023 saw 12 total cautions, including a straight red to Pacific's Jose Maria Becerra for appearing to spit on UVU's Alejandro Silva. Owen Knecht and Trevor Walk are the only Wolverines remaining who played in that game. First-year assistant Logan Kowalczyk spent the 2025 season on staff at Pacific.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Coming off of a 4-14 record in 2025 and 1-8 mark in WCC play, the Tigers return their top playmaker in German midfielder Luca Baltzer, who led the team in both goals and assists with four and five respectively. Ochoa returns to his alma mater as the head coach after spending the last six seasons as an assistant at UCLA and helping lead the Bruins to five-straight NCAA Tournament berths. Ochoa was a four-year starter at Pacific from 2014-17, helping lead the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament twice as a player and once as a volunteer assistant in 2018.
SEASON-OPENING DOMINANCE
Utah Valley is a perfect 12-0 all-time in home openers and 11-0-1 in season openers. In the last 5 home openers, the Wolverines have outscored opponents 18-2, including a 4-0 win over CSUB last year in the inaugural game at UCCU Stadium. All-time in home openers, the Wolverines have outscored opponents 38-7, averaging 3.17 goals/game, and have only allowed multiple goals once (Westminster, 2020). Utah Valley also owns a 16-1-3 record all-time in the month of August, with the lone loss being to No. 23 Western Michigan at America First Field in 2023.
WOLVERINES ON THE WORLDWIDE LEADER
14 of Utah Valley's 15 regular season games will air live on ESPN+ this season, as well as The Big West Championships. The Wolverines' only game not on ESPN+ will be the Old Hammer Rivalry matchup at Utah Tech on Sept. 21, which will air on the brand-new Mountain West+ platform.
UP NEXT
Utah Valley will host Central Arkansas at UCCU Stadium on Monday at 5 p.m. MDT in the first game of a single-admission doubleheader with the women’s soccer team. The women will host in-state rival Utah State at 7:30. Tickets can be purchased at GoUVU.com/GetTix, and both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
