Oregon State Men's Soccer Preview: The Beavers Are Set For A Brutal Non-Conference Schedule

We're not too far from the start of the 2026 Men's Soccer season. Expectations are high for Oregon State, who were just ranked 19th in the coaches' preseason poll. We've covered the team itself, but who will the Beavers be facing in the first season of the new Pac-12?

We'll start with the first half of Oregon State's schedule, the non-conference opponents. There is a wrinkle here, though. Because only three teams in the new Pac-12, Oregon State, Gonzaga and San Diego State, field men's soccer teams, the conference has teamed up with the Big West for the 2026 season. Four Big West schools; California Baptist, Cal Poly, UC Riverside and UC San Diego, will be competing in the Pac-12 this season.

The Beavers will also face three more Big West schools in crossover games the two conferences are hosting, scheduled during what would normally be the team's conference schedule. We'll cover all of the Beavers' Big West Crossover opponents in the second article in this series when we focus on the Pac-12 schedule.

To confuse matters further, the Beavers open the season against a Big West team that's not playing in the Pac-12 this season nor part of the Beavers Big West crossover. That'd be the UC Irvine Anteaters, who host the Beavers on August 20th. Last season Irvine won the conference championship before falling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Big West is going to be competitive this season, but the Anteaters expect to be back in the postseason. The team finished second in the conference's preseason poll, and fields two members of its All Preseason team, midfielder Isaac Powell and defender Brady Treinen. The team will have to replace its top scorer, forward Misael Gonzalez Lopez, but this is a deep, veteran team.

After the Anteaters the Beavers will remain in California to face Cal State Fullerton on August 23rd. The Titans are another Big West team expected to be very strong. They finished fourth in the conference last year and were predicted to finish fourth again this year by the preseason voters, but did pick up a first place vote.

After what should be a tough road trip to open the season, the Beavers get to return home and take on the reigning national champions. That would be the Washington Huskies, who the Beavers host on August 30th. The Huskies were also the team that knocked the Beavers out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, though Oregon State did take down the Huskies when they met earlier in the regular season.

Some big names have left the Huskies, including leading scorer Charlie Kosakoff, but midfielders Zach Ramsey and Alex Hall and defender Harrison Bertos give them a solid core. The team will also need a new goalkeeper following the departure of Jadon Bowton, but Jaeger Felton saw a bit of time in net last season.

After the Huskies the Beavers are back on the road, heading all the way east to take on Georgetown on September 4th. Last year's Big East champions were expected to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, but were knocked out in the third round by NC State. Headed into 2026 their the consensus pick to finish atop the Big East once again.

The road trip continues with a visit to Virginia on September 8th. The Cavaliers are seven time NCAA Champions, most recently in 2014, and last year made the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers are expected to be contenders in a very competitive ACC, having picked up four first place votes in the preseason poll to finish in third.

After the trip east the Beavers will be in Portland to take on the Pilots on September 13th, and for the third game in a row the Beavers will face a team that made the third round of last year's NCAA Tournament. The Beavers and Pilots tied for second in last year's WCC standings, and tied 1-1 in their match at Paul Lorenz Field.

Oregon State stays on the road to take on UC Santa Barbara on September 20th. The Gauchos were neck and neck UC Irvine for the Big West Championship last season, but a loss to the Anteaters in the conference tournament ultimately cost them a trip to the NCAA Tournament. As the preseason favorites in the Big West, the Gauchos would love to prove they deserved a shot last year.

On September 23rd the Beavers finally host their second host game of the season, and their last before the start of Pac-12 play. They'll host the Seattle Redhawks, a former WCC opponent the Beavers beat 5-3 last year.

On paper this is an absolutely brutal schedule. Four teams that made the round of 16 in last year's NCAA Tournament, including the eventual champions. Even the teams that didn't make the tournament were contenders in their conferences, and should be gunning to get to the postseason this year.

It'll be a challenge for the Beavers, especially with the turnover at forward. If the Beavers make it through that schedule unscathed, they'll have proven themselves one of the best teams in the country, and set themselves up for a Pac-12 Championship.

We'll take a look at what the new Pac-12 (and their special guests from the Big West) in our next article.

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