The Bruins have the opportunity to demonstrate their new roster as they kick the season off in Virginia.

UCLA men’s soccer will face Virginia Tech on Thursday and James Madison on Sunday to begin the regular season at the Fairfield Inn by Marriott JMU Invitational in Harrisonburg, Virginia. For 46% of UCLA’s players, these will be their first games as Bruins.

The Bruins played in three preseason games – where they went 2-1 – to get the new players of their squad integrated into the team and begin establishing team chemistry. One of the team’s five graduate student transfers, midfielder Ryan Becher, said transitioning into the team has been going well.

“It’s taken a little bit to get used to,” Becher said. “Watching a lot of film and getting in these preseason games has been good.”

With 12 new players on the roster, the preseason games were key for coach Ryan Jorden to get a sense of his squad.

Jorden said the coaching staff has been evaluating the new players and working to establish how they want the team to play.

“We’ve gotten exactly what we wanted with the opportunity for lots of players to get opportunities to play,” Jorden said. “The new players on our team, if they’ve been healthy, they’ve been able to give us an opportunity to get a sense of them in college games.”

With four new additions to the defensive core – compared to last year’s two – as well as two new goalkeepers, sophomore defender JC Cortez said there has been a lot more energy added to the team.

“Last year, a lot of it was a couple new guys getting accustomed to it,” said Cortez. “But now we have a whole new feel to the team, and I feel like there’s a lot more energy than we had last year, so it’s very exciting.”

Ahead of the season’s opening games, senior defender Tommy Silva and redshirt junior midfielder Tucker Lepley were named to the Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference Team.

Silva, who started every game for UCLA last year, and Lepley, who has been named captain for the Bruins, are likely to see high playing time across the season again this year.

These matches will mark UCLA’s first-ever contest against James Madison and second with Virginia Tech, who the team beat at home last season.

The Bruins took the lead against Virginia Tech in the 81st minute when then-redshirt sophomore forward Jose Contell slotted one home off an assist from Silva. Overall, the Bruins led the offensive battle with six shots on target compared to Virginia Tech’s zero.

Jorden said he is looking forward to facing good competition away from campus so early in the season.

“If you’re going to have a team that we think can be one of the top 20 teams in the country come tournament time, you got to go play good games against good teams on the road,” Jorden said. “We’re excited about that opportunity to go into that together.”

The Bruins began last season with a 3-0 to start, and will have the opportunity to repeat that record this weekend.