Men’s Soccer
PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Pilots Men’s Soccer has announced their schedule for the 2024 fall season. The schedule is one of the strongest schedules they’ve put together, featuring numerous matches against Top 25 and NCAA Tournament-level talent, a combined 21 national championships won by all opponents, and a stellar conference slate that features the addition of Oregon State to the WCC.
“We are excited to announce our challenging and rigorous 2024 schedule. We are again playing the best of the best across the country,” Portland head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt said. “This is the type of schedule that our players and fans will be excited about as we continue to play top programs both in the region and now in the Big Ten and ACC conferences. The WCC was one of the nation’s elite men’s soccer conferences from an RPI perspective last year and I expect that to be the same this year in our league. Coming off another great fall season the players are working hard to unlock their full potential and make our supporters proud.”
The Pilots will play exhibition matches against the Oregon State Beavers and the Seattle U Redhawks on Aug. 12 and Aug. 16, respectively, before hosting the Washington Huskies on Friday, Aug. 23 at Merlo Field. The Huskies made the NCAA Tournament seven of the last eight seasons before finishing 5-6-7 last year.
The Pilots then play the UCLA Bruins on Friday, Aug. 30 in Los Angeles. The Bruins were one of 16 teams to earn a bye in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after winning the Pac-12 with a 6-0-4 record in conference play and a 9-4-5 record overall. Carlin-Voigt was the associate head coach for UCLA prior to joining Portland in 2016 and has beaten UCLA three times since 2018, most recently winning 2-0 at home against the Bruins in 2022.
Portland will then host the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners followed by the Utah Tech Trailblazers on Sept. 5 and Sept. 8, respectively. The Roadrunners went 7-5-5 last season and 3-4-2 in Big West play while the Trailblazers were 9-9 last year and 4-4 in WAC play. The Pilots most recently played both teams in 2022, beating the Roadrunners 2-1 that year and the Trailblazers 6-0.
The Pilots play the St. Louis Billikens on Friday, Sept. 13 at home, hosting a team that went 8-4-5 last year and has won 10 national championships as a program. Last year was the first year they hadn’t made the tourney since 2021. The Pilots then travel to take on two stellar programs in the Denver Pioneers and the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, playing the two clubs on Sept. 19 and Sept. 22, respectively. Denver went 12-3-5 last year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament while the Gauchos went 10-8-2. The Pilots played both teams last year, winning both contests.
The Pilots return home to host the Sacramento State Hornets – a team they beat 3-0 in their season opener last season – on Friday, Sept. 27 before opening WCC play against the Santa Clara Broncos on Friday, Oct. 4 at Merlo Field. The Broncos finished tied for first in the conference with the best WCC record at 5-1-1 and 7-7-3 overall. They beat the Pilots 1-0 at Santa Clara last season.
Portland plays the Pacific Tigers – who finished seventh in the WCC and lost to the Pilots 4-0 in Portland – in Stockton on Wednesday, Oct. 9 before heading to San Francisco to take on the Dons. Portland also beat the Dons 2-0 at home last season. After that, they will take a brief break from WCC play to take on the California Golden Bears on Friday, Oct. 18 at Merlo Field. Cal is coached by former Pilot assistant coach Leonard Griffin, and the team played Portland in Berkeley last year, falling 2-0.
Conference play resumes on Friday, Oct. 25 against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in Spokane. The Zags finished last in the WCC this past year with a 3-9-6 record overall, losing 5-0 to Portland at Merlo Field last year. The Pilots return home to face the Saint Mary’s Gaels on Wednesday, Oct. 30. Saint Mary’s finished fourth in the WCC with an 3-4 record in conference, losing 3-0 to the Pilots in Moraga last season.
The final month of WCC play begins at home against the LMU Lions on Nov. 2, who the Pilots lost 1-0 to last season in Los Angeles. LMU finished fifth in the WCC with a 10-5-6 overall record and a 2-3-2 record in WCC play, but qualified for the NCAA Tournament, advancing all the way to the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Pilots face one of their biggest tests at the end of the season in the San Diego Toreros, who won the WCC last year with an 11-4-4 record and 5-1-1 record in WCC play to take the conference title for the second season in a row. They qualified for the NCAA Tournament but fell in the first round to the California Baptist Lancers.
The Pilots finish the season against their new conference mates, the Oregon State Beavers, at home on Saturday, Nov. 16. The Beavers finished last year ranked fourth in the nation after finishing the year with an 11-6-5 record overall, advancing all the way to the College Cup. They beat the Pilots in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to make it that far, but the Pilots also took the regular season matchup between the two sides 2-1 at Merlo Field.
The Pilots are coming off a historic year that saw them rank as high as third in the nation as they went 12-5 overall to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the third season in a row and the fifth time in seven fall seasons. They earned a first-round bye for the first time since 1988 after earning the 11-seed in the tournament and have made it to the second round each of the last three years. They are one of just 11 teams to have advanced to the second round or further each of the last three years. They set a program record with a home unbeaten streak that extended to 28 games (26-0-2) dating back to the 2021 season. The Pilots had three players taken in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft, the most in program history, with Kevin Bonilla, Jacob Babalai and Buba Fofanah all being selected. Portland is 10th in the country in NCAA Director Cup points from NCAA Participation the last three years.
Tickets for the 2024 season are live now, with season tickets, flex packs and single-game tickets available at PortlandPilots.com/SOCCERTIX2024. You can click the URL or check out the link in the right-hand column to get yours today.
Below is the full schedule for the Pilots.
2024 Fall Schedule
Aug. 13 at Oregon State>, TBA
Aug. 16 vs. Seattle U>, 7 p.m.
Aug. 23 vs. Washington, 7 p.m.
Aug. 30 at UCLA, 7 PM
Sept. 5 vs. CSU Bakersfield^, 4 p.m.
Sept. 8 vs. Utah Tech^, 7 p.m.
Sept. 13 vs. Saint Louis, 7 p.m.
Sept. 19 at Denver, TBA
Sept. 22 at UC Santa Barbara, TBA
Sept. 27 vs. Sacramento State, 5 p.m.
Oct. 4 vs. Santa Clara*, 7 p.m.
Oct. 9 at Pacific*, TBA
Oct. 12 at San Francisco*, TBA
Oct. 18 vs. California, 7 p.m.
Oct. 25 at Gonzaga*, 6 p.m.
Oct. 30 vs. Saint Mary’s*, 7 p.m.
Nov. 2 vs. LMU*, 7 p.m.
Nov. 9 at San Diego*, TBA
Nov. 16 vs. Oregon State, 7 p.m.
>Indicates exhibition
^Indicates doubleheader w/ women
*Indicates WCC match
Bold indicates home match
All times are PST
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