SAN FRANCISCO – University of San Francisco men's soccer head coach Eddie Soto has announced his squad's 2018 slate of matches. The reigning West Coast Conference champions schedule will feature 19 matches, 17 of which are official regular season contests with two preseason exhibitions. USF will play nine matches at Negoesco Stadium, including the opening two contests of the season.
 
The Dons will face four NCAA Tournament teams from 2017, including the national champions, and four opponents who finished in the top-50 of the RPI last year.
 
USF will open their season with a pair of exhibitions against Orange County SC (Aug. 12) and Cal Poly Pomona (Aug. 14).

They will kick-off the regular season with two home games against Cal State Northridge on Aug. 24 and San Diego State from the Pac-12 conference on Aug. 26.
 
USF will hit the road for the first time of the season to travel to Los Angeles to take on UCLA on Sept. 1. The Dons will return home six days later to take on three-time national champions, Stanford, at Negoesco Stadium on Sept. 7. Along with earning the national championship, Stanford finished the 2017 season 3rd in RPI and No. 1 nationally.

Following the match against Stanford, USF will have a three-game road trip beginning with a short trip south to take on San Jose State on Sept. 10. USF will then travel to Colorado for a pair of games against Denver on Sept. 14 and Air Force on Sept. 16. In last year's NCAA Tournament, Air Force was selected and played Virginia Tech in the first round, losing 0-2. The Falcons posted a record of 14-2-4, including an 11-1 home record. Denver will provide another stern non-conference test for the Dons as the Pioneers finished the year at No. 53 in the RPI rankings.
 
After two home games against UC Irvine and Sacramento State, USF will head down to So. Cal for a game against Cal State Fullerton, who made it to the NCAA Tournament last year, on Sept. 29.
 
USF will then open their 2018 West Coast Conference slate at home against San Diego on Oct. 7.
 
Following their two away games, USF will host the longest homestand of the season, taking on three WCC foes beginning with Portland (Oct. 26) then Gonzaga (Oct. 28) and finishing with Bay Area rival, Santa Clara on Nov. 3.
 
Like last year, USF will take on Loyola Marymount in the final match of the year, this time on the road on Nov. 10.

Soto returns a large contingent of the 2017 WCC champion squad, looking to build on that success from last year. The Dons finished the year 10-9 overall and, more important, 6-1 in conference play, winning seven in a row and nine of their final 11 games of the season, including a first round NCAA Tournament win over Cal before losing to Louisville in the second round, 2-3.