Uncharted territory lies ahead for the first time in program history.

UCLA men’s soccer (2-1-2) will take on No. 14 Northwestern (5-1) on Friday night at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium. The game marks UCLA’s first Big Ten regular season matchup and the first contest of a two-game road trip. The road expedition features two ranked opponents – Northwestern and No. 8 Wisconsin – and adds to the total count of six ranked matchups.

The Bruins enter Friday’s affair with the versatility and depth of their defensive line as their greatest strength – allowing only three goals this season. The biggest testament to the fortitude of their defensive prowess comes from senior defender and team captain Pietro Grassi and junior goalkeeper Sam Joseph.

“We all have the ability to adapt depending on what we play on the field… I was playing winger today – which I was always playing right back – and you could see different players swapping positioning on the field,” said freshman defender Shakir Nixon. “That’s just due to the fact that all of us are really versatile on the field, and we can play in a lot of different positions.”

Grassi – a defensive stalwart for UCLA since he stepped foot in Westwood – made his 50th start at center back in UCLA’s scoreless draw against then No. 8 Portland. Joseph, while only making three starts this season, is still yet to concede a goal.

While Grassi and graduate student defender Nicholas Cavallo have provided consistency on the defensive side, the rest of the position group has seen less stability. Joseph and sophomore goalkeeper Wyatt Nelson have alternated starting between the posts throughout the season, and freshman defender Allan Legaspi made his first start at center back against then No. 3 Denver after graduate student defender Youri Senden started the first four contests.

Nixon and senior defender Pablo Greenlee have both seen a lot of fluidity on the right side of the pitch, with both spending time at right back and right-sided attacker.

But despite the inconsistencies in the back line, the biggest question mark of the season is the absence of junior defender JC Cortez. The Ridgewood, New Jersey, local played in 14 games – starting four – as a sophomore in 2023. Through his starting stretch, the Bruins were 3-1-0, allowing just three goals.

“You’re trying to rotate some guys because you want some freshness on the field, because you look at maybe we stopped getting to people defensively or we’re failing to get some running that we wanted,” said coach Ryan Jorden. “I thought it looked okay, and we know we’ve got the depth so we were able to put some guys on to make it work.”

Northwestern enters the 2024 season without its top three-point leaders from 2023. With the departure of forward Justin Weiss, forward Ugo Achara Jr. and midfielder Rom Brown, the Wildcats lost a large share of their goal contributors. The senior trio was responsible for 15 goals and eight assists last season.

Despite the loss in production seen by the exit of senior players, the Wildcats have managed to win five of their first six games by spreading out goal distribution – eight different scorers contributing to each of their goals in 2024 – and cultivating a formidable defensive line. Goalkeeper Rafael Ponce de León – in his first year as the designated starting goalkeeper – has allowed just three goals through six contests, posting a .50 GAA and .700 save percentage.

“We’re going to look at the video and see what you know, the Big Ten teams will do, and we’re just excited to get on the road and just bring our style of football to the East Coast,” Grassi said. “We’ll be focusing on what we did wrong in this game so that we can improve and not make the same mistakes in the next game.”

The Bruins will officially start their Big Ten tour Friday night at 7 p.m.