Oregon State Men's Soccer Preview: Young Forwards and Midfielders Will Get the Chance to Prove Themselves in 2026

We've covered the defenders and goalkeepers who will take the field for Oregon State this season, but we still need to cover where the Beavers are going to get the bulk of their goal scoring from. Most of Oregon State's big offensive stars have graduated from the program, leaving the field wide open for new talent to shine.

The list of departures is long. Arnau Farnos, Fran Cortijo, Andrew de Gannes, Nico Nee, Iker Carbonell Garcia and Lucas Fernandez Kim all scored multiple goals for the Beavers last season, and all are gone. So who's left in Corvallis?

Starting at forward there/s a couple names to keep an eye on. Paul Fecteau is the only forward on the roster who scored a goal for the Beavers last season. Aidan Marquez got a handful of starts and assisted on two goals. Max Eisenberg, who was injured for the entirety of his freshman season, will finally get to take the field as a Beaver.

Those are the only returning forwards, but Oregon State has hit the transfer portal hard to fill its gap at the position. Wyatt Borso comes to the program after leading Notre Dame in goals last season with five. Michael Nesci has spent two seasons at Indiana and scored six goals for the Hoosiers in that span.

Borso and Nesci will be the favorites to grab starting positions at forward, but two more newcomers will also be in the competition. Taylor Rogers tranferred from Utah Tech, and Gonzalo Aranaz is a freshman from Valencia who has experience in Real Madrid's development program.

The Beavers midfielder group is trickier to gauge. West Coast Conference All Freshman Tim Hoffman is the number one player to watch. He started 10 games for the Beavers last year, picking up two goals and two assists.

Diego Rodriguez didn't get any starts for Oregon State but did score two goals off the bench which should get him more game time this year. The only other returning midfielder is Oliver Hernandez Parra, who made one start last season.

Other than those three, it's an all new group. Oregon State picked up one midfielder in the transfer portal, Milo Wray from James Madison. Wray started nearly every game for the Dukes last season, picking up two assists along the way.

Oregon State signed six freshman midfielders to the roster to fill out their depth. Four are domestic; Chris Avila from Austin,Evan Carlock from St. Louis, Mason Dimitrijevic from Orange County and John Koutelieris from Washington. Two are international, Spain's Joan Ruizand Italy's Tommaso Ricordi.

It's hard to judge the freshmen from the limited information we have about them, but Dimitrijevic has had time with LAFC's U18 club LA Galaxy's academy, and Joan Ruiz has progressed through Villareal CF's youth academy. Both seem like names to keep an eye on.

Until we see what formation's Oregon State favors it's hard to see exactly how the starting lineup shakes out. In the past the Beavers have tended toward lineups with fewer forwards and attacking midfielders, but Borso, Nesci and possibly Fecteau could make the argument to go more forward heavy this season. At midfielder Hoffman and Rodriguez will definitely get some starts, but after that the position seems uncertain.

That's what the Beavers look like this season. Up next, we'll be taking a look at Oregon State's non conference schedule.

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