PORTLAND, Ore. --- The 20th-ranked Portland Pilots men's soccer team plays the first of their two exhibition matches when the No. 22 Oregon State Beavers visit Merlo Field on Sunday. Kickoff for the two in-state rivals is set for 6 p.m., which is an hour earlier than originally scheduled.
 
Tickets for the friendly are available at PortlandPilots.com/tickets.
 
The Pilots are coming off their second playoff visit in the past three years as they reached the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. This fall they return 17 players from that team, including all-west region selections Rey Ortiz and Gio Magana-Rivera. As a junior last season, Ortiz collected three goals and three assists in limited action, while also landing on the All-WCC Second Team. Fellow senior Magana-Rivera was an all-conference first-team pick after producing two goals and a team-best five assists.
 
2018 WCC All-Freshman Team selection Jake Arteaga also returns for the Pilots, as does all-conference defender Esteban Calvo. Arteaga and Calvo, a senior, helped the Pilots record five shutouts in 2018. Arteaga added three goals last season, while Calvo registered one goal and three assists.
 
Joining the Pilots is the nation's ninth-ranked recruiting class. Portland's 10 newcomers are the program's third straight top-10 recruiting class.
 
Head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt enters his fourth year at the helm of the Pilots, and joining him on the staff are first-year assistant coaches Ben Zemanski and Austin Nyquist. Zemanski enters the coaching ranks after a lengthy MLS career, which featured a five-year stint with the Portland Timbers, and Nyquist was previously the Pilots' director of performance analysis. Emerson De Oliveira is in his fourth year as the program's director of goalkeeping.
 
On Friday, Aug. 23, the Pilots conclude the exhibition portion of their schedule when Utah Valley visits The Bluff. The regular season begins on Aug. 30 against Colgate at Merlo Field.