USAO Men's Soccer: Year in Review 2025-26

After going 4-1-3 in non-conference play, including a win at No. 9 ranked Bellevue University, the Drovers concluded the season with a mark of 6-6-5 overall.

The squad was led a pair of first-team all-conference performers in Thato Lekgetho and Matija Malenovic. Lekgetho delivered a terrific freshman campaign, producing five goals and a pair of assists for a total of 12 points.

Malenovic went out with a bang in his senior season, contributing 12 goals, one assist, and 25 points. His 12 goals and 25 points both led the conference in 2025. The captain concludes his career at USAO with 74 games played, including 22 goals, 14 assists, and 58 points.

When asked about his outlook of the 2025 season, Head Coach Tony Orsi said," 2025 was a year of transition and had a lot of positives to build on. We were a young team that graduated 18 seniors in 2024, so a lot of new faces including me as the new head coach, so we had to recalibrate the culture and the standard of what USAO Soccer is all about. We won some games we weren't supposed to, and probably lost a few we weren't supposed to, but we had a lot of guys learn on the fly about what the college game is all about and were thrown into the fire early. There is nothing more valuable than experience, and we had over 17 freshmen play in pressure situations to gain valuable experience for the future."

Orsi also spoke on the impact of the Sooner Athletic Conference offering a full schedule for reserve teams. "Our reserve team lost in conference tournament final, so future is very bright and there is a lot of talent to choose from when looking to move players up from reserve team to the first team. We had 12 reserve players move up to first team in 2025 season and play meaningful minutes during the year."

He continued, "This season will not be remembered only by wins and losses. It will be remembered by the standard we set, the adversity we overcame, and what we are building/the standard we are setting for the future."

The men's soccer team earned a SAC Scholar Team recognition with a team grade point average of 3.10.

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