The Colorado College Tigers open the 2026 season with a pair of home games at Stewart Field with the Whitworth Pirates and Wheaton Thunder making their way to Colorado Springs. Both visiting squads will also face off with Austin College in neutral site action on campus this weekend.

The Tigers were picked atop the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference ahead of the start of the regular season, as they look to recapture the SCAC regular season after doing so last fall behind a 12-1-6 record. The Tigers lone loss on the year came in their final game when Texas Lutheran downed them 1-nil in the second round of the SCAC tournament.

The Tigers are returning Teddy Opler who was tied for the team lead in goals a season ago with 14, which, when paired with his six assists on the campaign, gave him a team best 34 points in 19 matches played. Both of the Tigers keepers from 2025 are back for the fall season, with Alex Wolter and Spencer Besselaar both poised to make an impact in the senior season.

There are quite a few new faces in the locker room this season, as the team has eight freshmen on the roster this fall.

ABOUT WHITWORTH
The Pirates finished 2025 with a 7-5-5 record, going 7-4-5 in the Northwest Conference. Their performance landed them in fourth place out of nine teams in the league, as they were just one point shy of a top three finish in the standings. The Pirates will be looking for new contributors this fall, as they lost their leading scorer from last season to graduation.

ABOUT WHEATON
The Thunder kick off the season in the same position as Colorado College as they enter the year as the reigning champ in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, going 11-3-4 last fall and 7-0-1 in the CCIW. Despite their regular season dominance, the Thunder saw their year come to an end in the semifinal of the CCIW tournament, losing 2-1 to North Park University. Luke Vander Kolk, who led the offense for the Thunder with 12 goals, is back for 2026 as Weaton looks to defend their regular season title.

SERIES HISTORY
The Tigers will face off with the Pirates for the first time in program history on Friday, as the Thunder have done battle with the Tigers twice before, with both matches ending in draws.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
All matches this weekend at Stewart Field will be streamed live on FloCollege, with links available to those matches on the CC Men's Soccer page at CCTigers.com. Live stats links are also available on that page.

UP NEXT
The Tigers will hit the road next week, traveling to California for matches against Cal Lutheran (Friday, 8 PM MT) and Redlands (Saturday, 8 PM MT).