- UVU was 0-7-2 against ranked opponents away from home before it beat No. 20/12 Marshall 2-1 on September 11. How a first-year head coach's defense got there, and what it faces in the Big West.
- UVU Men's Soccer connect back to Utah Valley University and the wider soccer picture.
- The story is backed by 10 sources and a visible last-verified date.
September 24, 2026
September 23, 2026
5 min / 1,066 words
10 official links
Utah Valley men's soccer had played nine matches against nationally ranked opponents away from home before September 11, 2026, and had not won one. It had lost seven and drawn two. On that Friday night in Huntington, West Virginia, the Wolverines beat No. 20/12 Marshall 2-1, ending a home regular-season unbeaten run that Marshall had kept for 1,056 days.
The win came in Michael Chesler's first season as head coach, 11 days after UVU's first weekly honours as a Big West member and four days before its first appearance in the 2026 United Soccer Coaches poll. It also explains the identity of a team that entered Big West play unbeaten, with its conference opener at home against UC Irvine on September 30.
How the goals actually went in
The official recap and box score, read together, give a precise account. Marshall pressed from the start, and in the sixth minute Toke Amtrup cleared a follow-up shot off the goal line after Kolby Sessions parried the first effort. UVU scored first, inside the 11th minute: Mason Abdella slid a through ball to Jose Luis Martin Montealegre, whose shot was saved; Naime Odeh volleyed the rebound back into the box, and Adem Arous headed in his first NCAA goal.
Marshall's Josh Nugent equalised in the 24th minute, and Jeremie Kuelo cleared another shot off the line in the 30th. The winner came 20 seconds into the second half. Luca Wingaa Laursen, a freshman from Denmark who had come off the bench, won an aerial duel and beat two defenders to the end line. His cross was headed out to Landon Christiansen, whose left-footed volley deflected off Marshall's Joao Alves and over the goalkeeper.
That deflection matters for the record. UVU's recap says Christiansen broke the deadlock, but the box score credits the goal to the UVU team, not to him, which makes it an own goal in the official statistics. UVU's September 22 release describes Wingaa Laursen and Christiansen as having "set up the game-winning own goal."
Marshall finished with a 20-9 advantage in total shots, according to the recap. Sessions, a senior from Holladay who played at Judge Memorial, made five saves according to UVU's recap, including two in the final 10 minutes.
A defensive team, by design and by record
The result fits a pattern that predates this season. Chesler was named head coach on November 25, 2025, the third in the program's 12-year history, after Kyle Beckerman resigned on November 15 following five seasons and a 35-31-17 record. Chesler, from Highland, attended Mountain View High in Orem and had been associate head coach, and UVU's announcement noted that the 2025 team opened with a WAC-record six straight shutouts.
Six matches into 2026, the numbers look similar. UVU's September 22 release put its goals-against average at 0.67, the best in the Big West and 15th nationally, with only four goals conceded and three of them from open play. Two of the four wins were 1-0: Nil Grau scored the only goal against Central Arkansas on August 24 and at Santa Clara on August 30, and the Big West named him Offensive Player of the Week and Amtrup Defensive Player of the Week on August 31. Those were UVU's first weekly awards as a Big West member.
The season record through September 21 is 4-0-2: wins over Pacific, Central Arkansas, Santa Clara and Marshall, and 1-1 draws with Omaha and at Utah Tech. The Utah Tech draw, in the Old Hammer Rivalry in St. George on September 21, came from a Brayden Tester goal assisted by Dan McKay.
Rankings, dated rather than permanent
UVU entered the United Soccer Coaches poll at No. 22 on September 15, four days after Marshall. On September 22 it was ranked in three national polls: No. 21 in the College Soccer News Coaches Poll and No. 24 in both the United Soccer Coaches and TopDrawerSoccer rankings. Polls move every week, so each of those numbers belongs to its date. The more durable facts are the ones UVU's release recorded alongside them: the team was unbeaten through six games for a third straight season, and unbeaten entering conference play for only the second time in its history.
A roster built from Utah and abroad
The 2026 roster lists 29 players. Twelve list Utah hometowns, including Sessions, Odeh (West Haven), Christiansen (Clearfield), Max Palmer (South Jordan, by way of Snow College) and goalkeeper Jackson Medina (Heber City). Fourteen come from outside the United States, among them Arous (Lyon, France), Grau and Martin Montealegre (Spain) and four Danes, including Amtrup and Wingaa Laursen.
What comes next
The Big West schedule starts at UCCU Stadium in Orem on Wednesday, September 30, at 7 p.m. MT against UC Irvine, according to the official schedule checked September 23. UVU then travels to UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton before hosting Sacramento State on October 10. Oregon State visits on October 24 for Senior Night. Beckerman's resignation release listed a 2022 road draw at No. 5 Oregon State among the highlights of his tenure, so the Beavers are a useful measure of how far the program has moved since.
The Marshall result does not settle a Big West title race that has not started. It does show that this team can survive a match in which it is outshot two to one, and in a new conference that is a useful thing to have shown before the first league game.
Results, rankings and fixtures are on the UVU men's soccer team page, and every Wolverines program is on the Utah Valley school hub.
Key facts:
- Result: Utah Valley 2, No. 20/12 Marshall 1, September 11, 2026, in Huntington, W.Va.
- Milestone: UVU's first win over a ranked team away from home, after going 0-7-2 in those matches.
- Scoring: Adem Arous (header, 11th minute, first NCAA goal); winner at 45:20 credited in the box score as an own goal off a Landon Christiansen volley, set up by Luca Wingaa Laursen.
- Goalkeeping: Kolby Sessions (Holladay, Utah) made five saves, per UVU's recap; Toke Amtrup and Jeremie Kuelo each cleared a shot off the line.
- Record through September 21, 2026: 4-0-2.
- Rankings, September 22, 2026: No. 21 College Soccer News; No. 24 United Soccer Coaches and TopDrawerSoccer.
- Head coach: Michael Chesler, first season; named November 25, 2025.
- Next: Big West opener vs. UC Irvine, UCCU Stadium, Orem, September 30, 7 p.m. MT.
