Pac-12 Bound Cal Poly Men’s Soccer Announces 2026 Schedule
6/4/2026 2:39:00 PM | Men's Soccer
We know the road ahead will be demanding, but that’s exactly the type of challenge we embrace. We’re looking forward to the growth that comes from competing against outstanding opponents and to the experiences our student-athletes will gain throughout what promises to be a memorable season.Oige Kennedy, Cal Poly Head Coach
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Highlighted by five matchups against 2025 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, 10 home contests at Mustang Memorial Field and the debut of a six-game Pac-12 Conference slate, the Cal Poly men’s soccer program released its 18-game regular season schedule on Thursday.
Returning four all-conference selections, five starters, 15 letterwinners and 53 percent of its 2025 goal production from last fall, Cal Poly – which joined the Pac-12 in March as an associate member after capturing back-to-back Big West regular season titles – also hosts Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Sept. 25.
“We'll face nine teams this fall that finished in the top 75 of the RPI last season – including five that advanced to a 48-team NCAA Tournament,” Kennedy said. “We know the road ahead will be demanding, but that’s exactly the type of challenge we embrace. We’re looking forward to the growth that comes from competing against outstanding opponents and to the experiences our student-athletes will gain throughout what promises to be a memorable season.”
Here are the highlights from Cal Poly’s highly anticipated 2026 schedule:
AUGUST FRIENDLIES: Cal Poly hosts San Francisco (10-6-1 in 2025) for a Sunday, Aug. 9 exhibition at Mustang Memorial Field before visiting Stanford (14-4-2) on Saturday, Aug. 15 in the final tuneup match. The Cardinal reached the 2025 NCAA Tournament third round after being seeded 12th.
FOUR NCAA TOURNAMENT FOES – STARTING WITH THE OPENER: Cal Poly begins its 32nd Division I season on Thursday, Aug. 20 at Denver (12-7-3), which captured both the 2025 Summit League regular season and tournament titles. Denver, which reached last year’s NCAA Tournament second round, marks the first of Cal Poly’s four regular season opponents that qualified for postseason with visits to Indiana (12-6-1) and defending Big West titlist UC Irvine (11-4-6) bookending a Saturday, Oct. 17 home date with Oregon State (10-5-2).
CONFERENCES OF CHAMPIONS: Cal Poly, which split last year’s Big West regular season title with UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine, faces two other conference champions in 2026. Aside from the Aug. 20 season opener at Summit League champion Denver, Cal Poly hosts California Baptist (10-4-3) – which captured last fall’s WAC regular season title – in a Sunday, Oct. 4 Pac-12 matchup.
“As a team, we’ve always believed in challenging ourselves by competing against the very best in the country and our schedule – including joining a newly reformed Pac-12 Conference – reflects that commitment,” Kennedy said.
HOUSEKEEPING: Starting with a Thursday, Aug. 27 matchup against 2025 WAC Tournament runner-up San Jose State (12-4-4), Cal Poly’s nine regular season home matchups at Mustang Memorial Field mark the program’s highest total since 2019. In three previous seasons under Kennedy, Cal Poly has produced a 14-5-6 home record.
THE BLUE-GREEN RIVALRY: For the first time in the history of the Blue-Green rivalry, neither of the 2026 series matchups will be contested for conference points with Cal Poly’s offseason Pac-12 addition and UC Santa Barbara’s Big West retention. The best-attended sporting events annually in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, the two rivals will meet Friday, Sept. 25 in San Luis Obispo and Saturday, Oct. 10 in Santa Barbara. Both games start at 7 p.m. for a series that has drawn 36 of the top 76 regular season crowd figures in NCAA history.
PAC-12 DEBUT: Six of Cal Poly’s final eight matchups are Pac-12 contests – a stretch that begins Wednesday, Sept. 30 against UC San Diego (2-9-7). Cal Poly’s remaining Pac-12 dates are:
- Sunday, Oct. 4 versus California Baptist (10-4-3)
- Wednesday, Oct. 7 at San Diego State (7-9-2)
- Saturday, Oct. 17 versus Oregon State (10-5-2)
- Saturday, Oct. 24 at Gonzaga (5-8-3)
- Saturday, Oct. 31 versus UC Riverside (4-9-4)
“The Pac-12 has long been recognized as one of the premier soccer conferences in the nation with a rich history of producing NCAA Tournament teams, national champions and professional players,” Kennedy said. “To be part of the conference’s next chapter is both an honor and an exciting challenge for our program. The opportunity to compete regularly against institutions with such strong soccer traditions will elevate the level of competition our student-athletes experience and provide tremendous exposure for our program.”
AN HISTORIC POSTSEASON: Four of the Pac-12’s seven men’s soccer programs qualify for the first postseason tournament in the conference’s history with the semifinals scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 7 and the championship set for Friday, Nov. 13. The highest seeded program will host each round.
