The Lowdown: Sterling College at Friends University

 

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium      

 

Kickoff: Oct. 11 @ 4:30 PM

 

Live Stream: https://urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/2852

 

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

 

Flying with the Men's Soccer Falcons (1-9-1, 1-4-1, KCAC)

 

The Falcons came up short with a valiant effort against No. 3-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan their last time out. Sora Shibata scored the only goal for the Falcons in a 3-1 defeat.  

 

Sora Shibata leads the Falcons with five goals on the season and three of them have come from penalty kicks.  Felipe Calderaro and Jose Quiel also lead in assists with three apiece. The Falcon offense averages 1.55 goals a game against their opponent so far this year, with 14.5 shots a game.

 

Arturo Pombo-Palomero has made 28 stops with a 2.35 GAA during his 650 minutes at goalkeeper, while Juan Jose Echeverry has played 271 minutes in the net with 14 saves and a 2.65 goals-against-average for the Falcons.

 

About the Warriors (3-7-1, 1-6 KCAC)

 

The Warriors leading goal scorers on the season are Ruben Guzman and Chimela Orji, both having three goals. Sterling suffered a 4-0 defeat to York in their last outing. In the last three games Sterling has put up 42 shot attempts, but have only put three in.

 

Sterling's goalkeeper Cassidy Kelly has played in 10 games this season and has notched 856 minutes with 78 saves. He has an average of 3.57 GAA with eon shutout this season. 

 

The Series: The Falcons beat the Warriors 4-1 in last year's contest. The Falcons have had the Warriors number in the past; they have won the last 10 matchups against Sterling with a goal differential of +23.

 

The Coaches:

 

Bryan Perez is in his fifth season as head coach of the Friends University men's soccer program.

 

Last year, Perez coached three All-KCAC players and led the Falcons to a 6-4-3 record in the KCAC. 

 

During the 2023 campaign, Perez guided the Falcons to a 9-6-5 overall record and a 7-2-4 mark in the KCAC. The Falcons advanced to the KCAC postseason tournament semifinal round and had top-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan University on the ropes, but OKWU tied the score with 16 seconds left in regulation and pulled out a 3-2 win in double-overtime. 

 

In 2022, the Falcons finished fifth in the league after coming in as the third seed in Perez's debut season as head coach.

 

In his first season in 2021, Perez helped the Falcons to a 12-4-1 overall record, including winning 12 of their final 15 matches. 

 

In his first season with the program as an assistant coach, Perez helped the Falcons capture the KCAC tournament championship and achieve the program's first NAIA National Tournament berth since the 2007 season. 

 

Perez was recently named the head coach of FC Wichita, a local men's soccer amateur team that is a member of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL).  He also functions as the Technical Director for the program.

 

Prior to taking his position at FC Wichita, Perez served as the Director of Coaching for Alliance FC in Kansas City, where he led the coaches and developed the soccer curriculum.

 

His professional playing career includes competing six years for the Kansas City Comets, an indoor soccer team in the Major Arena Soccer League.  He led the Comets to a pair of championships, including an undefeated season in 2015.

 

He was also called to play for the United States Men's National Futsal team for their 2012 and 2016 World Cup Qualifying teams.

 

Perez played collegiately at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and enjoyed a standout career that resulted in him being inducted into the school's athletic Hall of Fame in 2017.

 

He wrapped up his playing career at UMKC as the team's all-time leader in goals (29), points (70) and games played (78).

 

Perez was a four-time All-Summit league performer, including earning first-team honors on three occasions.

 

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from UMKC in 2010 and currently resides in Wichita with his wife Jamie and two children, Mila (seven) and Enzo (four).

 

Nic Martinez is the head coach of the Warriors and a former alumnus of Sterling. He played goalie in his collegiate days for the Warriors. Martinez started off as an assistant coach in 2010 of the men's and women's soccer teams. He became the head coach later in 2017 and his official title is the Director of Soccer, so he coaches the women's team as well. 

 

Sterling had their first NAIA national tournament appearance in 2020 with Martinez at the helm. In the same year he was named KCAC coach of the year. Martinez was also a professional soccer player for the Wichita Wings from 2012-2015. 

 

Up Next: The Falcons will travel to Missouri next Wednesday the 15th to play the Avila Eagles. The game will be in Kansas City, Mo. and kickoff will be at 2:30 PM.

 

Men's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers:

 

Overall: 1-9-1

 

KCAC: 1-4-1

 

Home: 1-4-1

 

Away: 0-5

 

Scoring zero goals: 0-3

 

Scoring one goal: 1-4-1

 

Scoring two goals: 0-3

 

Scoring three goals: 0-0

 

Scoring 4+ goals: 0-0

 

Allowing zero goals: 1-0

 

Allowing one goal: 0-2-1

 

Allowing two goals: 0-4

 

Allowing three goals: 0-4

 

Allowing 4+ goals: 0-2

 

Leading at halftime: 1-0

 

Trailing at halftime: 0-6

 

Tied at halftime: 0-2-1

 

Leading in shots-on-goal: 0-2

 

Trailing in shots-on-goal: 0-6-1

 

Shots-on-goal are even: 0-1