ORANGE, Calif. – The 2026 season officially gets underway for the Chapman University men's soccer team with a trip to the Northwest for two matches this weekend. Chapman visits Pacific Lutheran University on Friday before heading to the University of Puget Sound on Sunday.

After finishing fourth in the SCIAC last season, the Panthers were once again picked to finish in the middle of the standings in a poll of the conference coaches. The third, fourth and fifth place spots were separated by just six points in the poll with the Panthers taking the No. 5 spot.

The Panthers return four of the five players to score multiple goals last season. Evan White tied for the team lead with four goals while Oliver Adams and Reed Leidlein each contributed three on the season. Leo Wells scored twice last year and has seven career goals entering his senior season.

Both All-SCIAC selections from last season came from Chapman's defensive efforts with Cormac Galvin and goalkeeper Alex Glynn earning the honors. With both now graduated from Chapman, head coach Eddie Carrillo will look reload the back line to join the experience of Leidlein and Alex Vasquez.

It will be a new keeper in the goal with the graduation of Glynn, who was the starter for the last three seasons. Rhys Lindhorst and Otto Richter return after both appeared in a pair of matches of the bench last year and are joined by newcome Gio Marsala.

After playing two matches in the Northwest to start the season, the Panthers return home for their final non-conference matchup against Stanton University on Wednesday, Sep. 9. One week later, the SCIAC season kicks off with Chapman hosting Caltech.

The 12-match conference season wraps up for the Panthers at Redlands on Oct. 28 with the five-team SCIAC Tournament running Nov. 3-8. Every match this season can be streamed on FloCollege.