Women's Soccer 10/10/2025 2:22:00 PM

Women's Soccer Gameday Preview: Falcons clash with Sterling at home tomorrow night

Photo Credit: Greg Dalton

The Lowdown: Sterling College at Friends University

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium

Kickoff: Oct. 11 @ 7:00 PM

Live Stream: https://urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/2861

Live Stats: https://friendsathletics.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary

Flying with the Women's Soccer Falcons (5-3-3, 3-1-2, KCAC)

The Falcons are 5-3-3 and 3-1-2 in the KCAC after a hard-fought 2-0 setback to No. 8-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University Wednesday evening (Oct. 8). The Falcons allowed a goal less than two minutes into the match, but just one score the rest of the way.

Kieley Aranda leads the Falcons with six goals, while Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo has three goals and is tied with Trinity Granger for the team lead in assists with three helpers. Paige Putter has also emerged and has three goals and two assists.

Morgan Wilkinson has a 1.10 goals-against-average with 36 saves in nearly 903 minutes in the net.

Dish on the Lady Warriors (2-9-1, 0-6-1 KCAC)

Jessica Gautreau leads Sterling and is second in the KCAC with nine goals scored on the season. Shayna Dale and Francesca Vilca have each recorded a team-leading two assists for the Lady Warriors.

Bella Duckworth is tops in the KCAC in saves (71) and has amassed a 4.84 GAA in over 947 minutes at goalkeeper this season.

The Series: The Falcons have won 10 straight meetings over the Lady Warriors and are 14-7 in the series since 2004. Friends is also 8-4 in Wichita during that stretch and have won five consecutive home matchups. The last win for Sterling came on the road in 2014.

The Coaches:

Brent Hobson is in his 12th season leading the Falcons women's soccer team for the 2025 season. After failing to qualify for the NAIA National Tournament for 15 seasons, Hobson has now guided the Falcons to four national appearances in the past six years. In his 11 seasons at the helm, Hobson has amassed an overall record of 116-75-19.

Last season saw the Falcons cross an item off the bucket list, winning their first KCAC tournament championship of the modern-era to clinch another NAIA National Tournament bid. The Falcons' run to the KCAC tourney title included a dramatic penalty kick win over top-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan University in the semifinal round and a thrilling 1-0 overtime victory over York University in the championship match. The Falcons finished 14-6-2 overall for the program's fourth straight double-digit victory season.

The Falcons recorded a 13-5-4 record in 2023 and their first conference unbeaten season (10-0-3) in the modern era that resulted in a second-place finish in the KCAC and another berth into the NAIA National Tournament.

In 2021, Hobson coached the Falcons to a runner-up regular season finish in the conference and mentored KCAC Freshman of the Year Keily Larosee and the league's top newcomer Elyssa Salazar.

Hobson guided the Falcons to a breakthrough 2019 season, finishing second in the league and advancing to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time in 15 years to earn KCAC Coach of the Year honors. He coached eight All-KCAC performers in 2019, including two-time Goalkeeper of the Year Lauren Ferguson while guiding the team to the conference tournament championship game.

In the 2018 campaign, Hobson led the Falcons to a fourth-place in the KCAC for the second straight season and a home postseason tournament match for the third consecutive year.

He also coached six Falcons to all-conference honors, including KCAC Goalkeeper of the Year Lauren Ferguson.

The Falcons also soared off the pitch under Hobson, with a conference-high 18 student-athletes receiving KCAC Scholar-Athlete honors.

During the 2017 campaign, Hobson guided the squad to a fourth-place conference finish and a KCAC quarterfinal home match, with five Falcons earning all-conference recognition.

Off the pitch, the Falcons placed four student-athletes on the NAIA Scholar-Athlete list while a whopping 10 team members received the KCAC Scholar-Athlete award.

In 2016, the Falcons matched the 11 wins from a year before but improved to an 8-3 record in KCAC play for a third-place finish in the conference standings. Cuda repeated her CoSIDA award and was named the Academic All-America of the Year, the top academic award in all of college sports.

Hobson played all four years at Friends University then was hired on as an assistant coach for the men's and women's soccer teams. During his career, he tallied a total of 33 goals and 21 assists, along with eight game-winning goals. Hobson earned 2nd Team All-KCAC honors his junior year and 1st Team All-KCAC after his senior season. He also received numerous team awards. The Falcons were 24-10-3 in the KCAC and 47-27-5 overall in Hobson's four seasons on the team.

In 2013-2015, Hobson played professionally for the Wichita B-52's in the PASL & MISL Indoor Soccer League.

Hobson received his degree in health management from Friends in 2011. Hobson and his wife, Whitney, live in Wichita.

Nic Martinez is the head coach of the Sterling College women's soccer program. He started his coaching career as an assistant coach for both the men's and women's soccer teams at Sterling.

Martinez was then named the Sterling men's soccer head coach in 2017 before also earning the title of Director of Soccer and taking the reins of the women's soccer program for the 2024 season.

In 2020, Martinez guided the Warriors to their first-ever NAIA National Tournament berth in and was selected as the KCAC Coach of the for the 2020-21 season.

Collegiately, Martinez was a second-team all-conference player at Cascade College and then an honorable-mention performer at Sterling. He also played at the professional level for the Wichita Wings from 2012-15.

Up Next: The Falcons will hit the road and play at Avila University next Wednesday (Oct. 15) at noon in Kansas City, Mo.

Women's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 5-3-3

KCAC: 3-1-2

Home: 3-1-1

Away: 2-2-2

Scoring zero goals: 0-3-2

Scoring one goal: 0-0-1

Scoring two goals: 1-0

Scoring three goals: 1-0

Scoring 4+ goals: 3-0

Allowing zero goals: 4-0-2