IRVINE, Calif. – The Big West unveiled its 2022 men’s soccer conference slate today, featuring a nine-game format culminating in the 2022 Big West Men's Soccer Championships Nov. 2-12. The site for each round of the championship tournament will be determined by seeding, with the higher-seeded team(s) acting as the host for each matchup.
Conference play in The Big West starts on Wednesday, Sept. 28. All five weeks on the docket consist of Wednesday-Saturday contests, with the exception of the final week where teams only play on Saturday.
Some of the premier matchups include:
• Saturday, Oct. 15 (Week Three) - UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine - A rematch of the 2021 Big West Championship final. The two teams played to a 1-1 double overtime draw in their 2021 regular season meeting.
• Saturday, Oct. 22 (Week Four) - Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara - The Blue-Green Rivalry, heralded as “The Greatest Rivalry in College Soccer”, has produced five of the 10 largest crowds in NCAA men's soccer history.
• Saturday, Oct. 29 (Week Five) - UC Davis at Sacramento State - The Causeway Rivalry. Separated by less than 20 miles, the Aggies have won the last seven meetings against the Hornets.
Last season, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine shared the regular season title with identical conference records of 6-1-2 for 20 points. The two teams squared off in the 2021 Big West Championship final with UC Santa Barbara coming out on top 4-0 to win the crown and earn the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Championship.
Select regular season contests and the Big West Men’s Soccer Championship are slated for telecast on the ESPN family of networks through the multi-year, multi-platform media rights agreement announced last summer. Check BigWest.org or ESPN listings for coverage and game times.
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