PORTLAND, Ore. – The Pacific men's soccer program prepares to play its first ranked opponent of the 2025 season, trekking north to take on No. 4 Portland at 7 p.m. on Saturday night from Merlo Field.

The Tigers (3-9, 1-3 WCC) will face their first ranked opponent since last season at home against San Diego. This weekend's challenge presents the Pilots (9-0-3, 2-0-2 WCC), who have yet to lose to an opponent in 2025.

Last time out, the Tigers played a spirited match but ultimately faced a setback at home in a 3-2 loss to San Francisco on Wednesday. In that mid-week clash, senior Jacob Heisner broke the deadlock with the first collegiate goal of his Tiger career. Sophomore Josephat Yangyuoru notched his second goal of the season that was a game-tying goal.

Pacific has facilitated the majority of its offensive schemes through the eyes of senior and captain Luca Baltzer. The native of Oberstenfeld, Germany holds the team lead with three goals, two assists, eight points and nine shots on goal through 11 starts. Four other Tigers have registered at least one goal and one assist during the 2025 campaign.

While sophomore Ezekiel Padilla has yet to find the back of the net, he represents a catalyst in producing offense on the wings with a team-high 22 shot attempts on the year.

On the defensive end, junior Milo Risenhoover could be a candidate to make his third start of the season in front of his hometown family and friends. The native of Portland, Oregon owns a 1.37 goals against average with 11 saves in three appearances so far this year. Junior Mateus Ruiz-Hurst has drawn the starting assignment for the bulk of contests this season, tallying a team-best 32 saves.

The Pilots have been one of the surprises of men's college soccer this season, representing one of eight undefeated teams on the year so far, joining Bryant, Maryland, Vermont, Duke, South Florida, Purdue Fort Wayne and Drake.

Through games played from Thursday, Portland holds the sixth-best goal differential in the country at +24, with 30 goals on the year and just six conceded. 
In conference play recently, the Pilots have faced back-to-back ranked foes in San Diego and Oregon State, defeating the former by a 2-1 score at home and drawing the latter in a 1-1 battle in Corvallis, Oregon.

Two Pilots players to keep an eye on are David Ajagbe and Joe Highfield, who each have at least six goals and two assists this season. Ajagbe leads Portland with seven goals and 16 points – both of which rank in the top three of the West Coast Conference leaderboards.

In goal, Miguel-Angel Hernandez has been the go-to guy for the Pilots, sporting a 0.55 goals against average with six shutouts. His six shutouts are tied for the league lead in the WCC.

Pacific and Portland meet for the 13th time in the series history since 2014. Last year, the Tigers battled to a 2-2 draw in Stockton where Padilla found a late game-tying goal in the 85th minute off a free kick that banked off the post and in. All four goals came in the second half of the contest. The Tigers seek their first road victory at the Pilots since 2019 when they came up with a 1-0 clean sheet win.

The match can be viewed live on ESPN+ with a scheduled 7 p.m. kick-off.

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