The Lowdown: Tabor College at Friends University
Location: Adair-Austin Stadium
Kickoff: Oct. 25 @ 4:30 PM
Live Stream: https://urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/2863
Live Stats: https://friendsathletics.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary
Flying with the Women's Soccer Falcons (9-3-3, 7-1-2, KCAC)
The Falcons have now won four straight matches following a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Evangel University to move to 9-3-3 overall and 7-1-2 in the KCAC. Alex Fonseca scored the lone goal of the match in the 39th minute for Friends. The Falcons are still second in the KCAC and have outscored the opposition by a whopping 15-1 during this four-match win streak.
Kieley Aranda is first on the Falcons and second in the KCAC with 10 goals on the season, while Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo leads the team and is tied for second in the league in assists (five). Paige Putter has four goals and two assists, with Trinity Granger and Solenn Levesque each distributing four helpers.
At goalkeeper, Morgan Wilkinson is fourth in the KCAC in goals-against-average (0.86) and has made 42 saves in over 1147 minutes in the net this season.
Dish on the Bluejays (10-3-2, 6-2-2 KCAC)
The Tabor College Bluejays have won three straight matches and are currently the fourth seed in the KCAC with a 6-2-2 conference mark along with a 10-3-2 overall record.
Porsha Zweifel leads the Bluejays and is third in the KCAC with nine goals on the season. Raegan King has scored three goals along with a team-high three assists.
Neve Mulrooney is second in the KCAC with an 0.72 GAA and has made 60 saves during her 880:30 in the net this season.
The Series: The Falcons won 1-0 on the road last season at Tabor and are 5-0-1 in the last six meetings. Friends is 14-6-2 overall vs. Tabor since 2004, with a 7-1-2 mark in Wichita during that span.
She Shoots, She Scores & Defense, Defense: The match between the Falcons and Bluejays will feature two of the top three scorers in the KCAC, as the Falcons' Kieley Aranda ranks second in goals with 10 and the Bluejays' Porsha Zweifel is right behind in third with nine scores. Combating that will be two of the league's stingiest goalkeepers occupying the net, with Tabor's Neve Mulrooney currently second in GAA (0.72) and Friends' Morgan Wilkinson ranking fourth (0.86).
Just Take Me Half the Way: When the Falcons lead at the half, they've won all eight matches. But they've lost all three occasions that they've trailed at intermission and are 1-0-3 when the match is tied at the half.
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.
Thomas Gaskell is in his second season as the Tabor College women's soccer head coach. Gaskell is familiar with the program, having served a Graduate Assistant coach for Tabor from 2018-20.
Gaskell's coaching career includes serving as assistant coach at Wichita Independent School and Coffeyville CC along with head coaching jobs at Wichita South HS, Hesston College and Pratt CC.
Up Next: The Falcons will be on the road for the final two games of the regular season, starting at Ottawa University next Wednesday evening (Oct. 29) at 5 pm in Ottawa, Kan.
Women's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers:
Overall: 9-3-3
KCAC: 7-1-2
Home: 5-1-1
Away: 4-2-2
Scoring zero goals: 0-3-2
Scoring one goal: 1-0-1
Scoring two goals: 1-0
Scoring three goals: 1-0
Scoring 4+ goals: 6-0
Allowing zero goals: 7-0-2
Allowing one goal: 2-0-1
Allowing two goals: 0-1
Allowing three goals: 0-0
Allowing 4+ goals: 0-2
Leading at halftime: 8-0
Trailing at halftime: 0-3
Tied at halftime: 1-0-3
Leading in shots-on-goal: 9-0-3
Trailing in shots-on-goal: 0-3
Shots-on-goal are even: 0-0
