Penn State men's soccer set for first match against UCLA in over 20 years

Penn State returns home to Jeffrey Field this upcoming weekend in the annual wear white game to take on the UCLA Bruins in men’s soccer.

This is the first time that UCLA will be playing the Nittany Lions since the 2003 season when UCLA beat the Nittany Lions at home.

The year before that season, UCLA won the national championship, and on their way to that title, they beat Penn State in the NCAA Regionals.

So even though it has been two decades since these two squads have faced off, the new Big Ten format should keep this matchup for years to come.

UCLA (4-3-3) has the exact same Big Ten record entering the matchup at (1-2-1), which should give the blue and white a good chance.

Considering the fact that Jeff Cook’s squad is now on a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1), should keep the confidence high.

Last time out on a Tuesday night at College Park, Maryland the Nittany Lions were once again down to start the contest on the road. Much like the last two games, however, they were able to come back from that deficit and force a 1-1 draw in Big Ten play.

Star sophomore Caden Grabfelder, netted his third goal of the season to tie with his captain Matthew Henderson in goals on the season.

Five different players have at least two goals through the first few games of conference play.

Moving on to the star power of the Bruins, they come into this matchup fresh off of a crushing loss at home to the Michigan State Spartans 1-0.

Back on Sept. 20, the Nittany Lions were able to come back in the last minutes of the game and defeat the Spartans.

Seven games so far this season have been ranked battles for the Bruins, and they have passed the test in those games for the most part. The record (3-1-3) shows that all of their matchups are competitive, including their last one against Michigan where they tied 3-3.

Erdey Caceres and Nikolai Rojel have been incredibly efficient in getting the ball on the net this season. Both have a combined seven shots on goal this season, and six of them have gone to the back of the net.

Rojel has also only started three games so far this season as well, which adds to the incredible season he is having.

The forward from Copenhagen, Denmark originally played at Wofford College and led the team in goals with nine and 11 back-to-back seasons respectively.

Now he is simply doing it on a much larger stage.

You can watch the game at 8 p.m. this Friday with a BigTen+ subscription, or listen to the game on CommRadio’s website.

Giustino Racchini is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, you can email him at gar5448@psu.edu.