BERKELEY – California's upcoming two-game homestand will be a weekend of firsts.

Friday will be the first time the Golden Bears (1-2-1) face the Mavericks of Nebraska-Omaha (2-1-3, 0-0 Summit League) in at least 18 years. Sunday's meeting with Harvard (2-1-1, 0-0-0 Ivy League) will be the most recent since the 1999 season where the then-No. 18 Bears blanked the Crimson 3-0, under previous head coach Mark Mallon.

The opening match is scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. (PT) start with the second match to close the weekend at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Cal's faceoff with Harvard will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network. Live stats will be available for both contests on the Cal Athletics website.

For 17-year head coach Kevin Grimes, it will be the inaugural meeting with this slate, but his teams have fared well against current Summit and Ivy League conference members. Under Grimes' regime, the Bears have been undefeated against competition from both leagues boasting a 6-0-1 meeting against Ivy League opponents and 1-0-1 against members of the Summit League.
 

While Cal has faced at least one member from either conference almost yearly, it is the first occasion since the 2010 season that the Golden Bears will see a team from both. In the previous occurrence, a then 14th/19th-ranked Cal tied Denver 2-2 seven games in, while blanking the Bears of Brown University 2-0 in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

After a week off, the Golden Bears, who are receiving votes as a top team in national polls, look to defend their home turf, where they are currently undefeated.

STORYLINES FOR THE WEEKEND

FIRST TIME FACE-OFFS
Friday will be the first time the Golden Bears (1-2-1) face the Mavericks of Nebraska-Omaha (2-1-3, 0-0 Summit League) in at least 18 years. Sunday's meeting with Harvard (2-1-1, 0-0-0 Ivy League) will be the most recent since the 1999 season where the then-No. 18 Bears blanked the Crimson 3-0, under previous head coach Mark Mallon. Under 17-year head coach Kevin Grimes, the Bears have been undefeated against competition from both leagues boasting a 6-0-1 meeting against Ivy League opponents and 1-0-1 against members of the Summit League.

FORMERLY FAMILIAR FOES
The Golden Bears opened their season in similar fashion to the 2010 season playing  three of the four teams as six seasons ago (Saint Mary's, No. 5/5* Indiana, No. 4/12* Notre Dame).That season, Cal finished as the Pac-12 runner-up with a run that ended in the NCAA quarterfinal and a 14-2-4 record.  While 2010 is long gone, the Bears look to use the challenges from these early games to where they 1-2-1 to prevail over tough competition the remainder of the season.  In a tough two-game road game the Bears fell 2-1 to the Hoosiers and 5-0 to the Fighting Irish. Cal hosted the Gaels of St. Mary's on Aug. 26 that resulted in a 2-2 draw before downing  The Nittany Lions of Penn State 2-1 in overtime. This week's matchups kick things back up for Cal as the team rested last week.

EARLY ESTIMATES FOR SENIOR PAIR
Senior duo Nick Lima (Castro Valler, Calif.) and Christian Thierjung (Dove Canyon, Calif.) were named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team after strong showings in 2015. Both finished a as first team All-Pac-12 members a season ago combining for 11 (9-Thierjung, 2-Lima) of the teams' 29 goals. They each totaled four assists and finished with double-digit points. Thierjung, a forward/midfielder, tallied 22 points that tied for fourth in the league and ranked third in shots on goal (26). 

PAC-12 PRESEASON COACHES POLL
The Pac-12 coaches predicted Cal will finish fourth in the conference behind UCLA, the 2015 NCAA champion Stanford, and Washington. In 2015, the Golden Bears finished fourth with a 4-4-2 conference record. The Pac-12 also has two teams in the top 16, as Stanford checks in at No. 1 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and UCLA at No. 16.

TOP TIER TRIO
Trio Nick Lima, Christian Thierjung and Jose Carrera-Garcia (Ontario, Calif.) were named to the Top Drawer Soccer Men's National Top 100 during the preseason. Carrera-Garcia was listed at No. 75, followed by Thierjung at No. 77 and Lima at No. 97. It is the third consecutive season that California had multiple members selected to the preseason list. Carrera-Garcia also made an appearance in last year's Top 100 at No. 43 along with No. 57 Josh Morton (Brentwood, Calif.) and No. 86 Paul Salcedo-Borrego (Inglewood, Calif.) . 

FRESHMAN FIVE
The Bears welcome a handful of newcomers to Berkeley for the 2016 campaign, including two four-star prospects according to TopDrawerSoccer.com. Forward Simon Lekressner (Bellevue, Wash.), defender David Burns (El Dorado Hills, Calif.), defender Brian O'Hara (Corona, Calif.) - who was rated the 49th-best senior by College Soccer News, forward Javier Macias (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and goalkeeper Drake Callender (Fair Oaks, Calif.) are each getting their first experience of collegiate soccer this year. Cal head coach Kevin Grimes expects the fivesome to see significant minutes during the regulation season after an impressive summer and preseason. Two have already boasted their first collegiate starts in the opening weekend.

CALIFORNIA LOOOVE
The California Golden Bears go by the moniker Cal, and it is incredibly appropriate, considering the team's roster is  made up of 24 players from the Golden State. Only three of the 27 players are from outside of California, in senior defender Trevor Haberkorn (Keller, Texas), junior midfielder/defender Ugo Rebecchini (Rome, Italy) and freshman forward Simon Lekressner (Bellevue, Wash.).

ROLLING DEEP
A year ago, Cal had just one senior on its roster, and had to rely heavily on a contingent of sophomores and freshmen. While seniors are still in the minority with threesome forward Christian Thierjung, defender Nick Lima and defender/midfielder Trevor Haberkorn at the helm, the veterans have the support of experienced juniors and sophomores, in addition to a group of freshmen that can likely contribute right away. Key returners from the junior corps are forward Paul Salcedo-Borrego and forward/midfielder Jose Carrera-Garcia who were key scorers for the Bears in 2015. The pair earned second team All-Pac-12 honors a season ago with Carrera-Garcia notching five goals and a team-high 10 assists and Salcedo-Borrego adding four scores of his own. Samuel Ebstein (San Francisco, Calif.) and Spencer Held (Agoura, Calif.) were key contributors in 2015 both tapping in a pair of goals in their freshmen campaigns.  

2016 RANKINGS
The Golden Bears were listed at No. 22 by NSCAA and No. 24 on Top Drawer's Top 25 after Week 1 of competition.

#TJALLDAY
Senior forward Christian Thierjung is the team's leading returning scorer for consecutive seasons totaling 22 points (nine goals and four assists) in 2015 (in 2014 he led with 16 points on seven goals and two assist). He tallied his first goal of the season against Saint Mary's.

LIMELIGHT LIMA
Senior Nick Lima played a crucial role in the Bears' 2-1 overtime win against Penn State (8/28) scoring both of Cal's goals. His play garnered him the season's first Pac-12 Player of the Week award on Aug. 30. Lima leads the teams in goals heading into Week 4 with three goals. 

GRIMES AMONG COUNTRY'S ELITE
Head coach Kevin Grimes begins his 17th season with the Golden Bears and has cemented himself as one of the nation's best. The 2013 NSCAA (National Soccer Coaches Association of America) All Far West Region Coach of the Year has compiled a record of 173-105-38 record in Berkeley over the course of 16 seasons and trails only Cal Athletics Hall of Famer Bob DiGrazia in total wins (202 from 1952-1980).

2015 IN REVIEW
In 2015, the Bears compiled an 9-6-2 overall record (4-4-2 in the Pac-12) shy of an NCAA bid for the first time since 2012. Despite the numbers, Cal spent much of the season ranked in the top 25 in the country kicking off the year with a 5-2 record. Conference matchplay tested a Bears' team with only one senior and eventually bested the young Cal squad. Albeit strong efforts, the Bears could not overcome the two-game series with eventual national champion Stanford even after splitting the matches with UCLA who made it to the second round of playoffs.   

BEARS IN THE PROS
Currently 18 former Bears are playing professionally, including 11 who are currently on MLS rosters. Rookie Alex Mangels (Tulsa Roughnecks FC), Connor Hallisey (Sporting Kansas City), Stefano Bonomo (New York Red Bulls II) and Seth Casiple (Timbers2) were all part of the Golden Bears' 2014 squad that reached the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Additionally, Steve Birnbaum (D.C. United), Christian Dean (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), David Bingham (San Jose Earthquakes), Servando Carrasco (Orlando City SC),.Stefan Frei (Seattle Sounders FC), Andrew Jacobson (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Hector Jimenez (Columbus Crew), Eric Kronberg (Sporting Kansas City), Josh Saunders (New York City FC), Tyson Wahl (Columbus Crew), Chris Cortez (Arizona United SC), A.J. Soares (Aarhus Gymnastikforening), Alec Sundly (Real Monarchs SLC) and Andrew Wiedeman (FC Cinncinati) are all currently on professional rosters.