The Lowdown: Oklahoma Wesleyan at Friends University
Location: Adair-Austin Stadium
Kickoff: Oct. 8 @ 7:30 PM
Live Stream: https://urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/2851
Live Stats: https://friendsathletics.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary
Flying with the Men's Soccer Falcons (1-8-1, 1-3-1, KCAC)
The Falcons are coming off of two road losses to University of Saint Mary and York, but outshot both opponents in both contests. The Falcons have outshot their opponents in the last three contests but have only come up with one win out of the three.
Andres Michael Xibilia and Sora Shibata lead the Falcons with four goals each. Felipe Calderaro and Jose Quiel also lead in assists with three apiece.
Arturo Pombo-Palomero has made 25 stops with a 2.25 GAA during his 560 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 Eagles (7-0-3, 5-0-1 KCAC)
The No. 3-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University Eagles are currently undefeated this season and have a goal differential of +26 over their opponents. The Eagles average 3.4 goals a game and have scored 14 in their last three games. OKWU's latest match was a convincing 7-0 win over Tabor College.
Biel Campo and Julian Tovar are the main goal scorers for the Eagles. Tovar has eight goals and Campo has scored six times. Campo also leads the Eagles with six assists.
Stefan Schenk has made 11 saves with a 0.41 GAA in 441 minutes in goal this season for the Eagles. Save percentage for Schenk is .846.
The Series: The Falcons lost to the Eagles 3-2 in last year's contest. The Falcons have lost the last 7 contests against the Eagles.
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).
Jamie Peterson is in his 15th season as head coach of the OKWU College men's soccer program. Since joining in 2010, the Eagles have had a winning percentage of 82.8% and Peterson has been named Conference coach of the year 11 times in his tenure as coach. He has helped the Eagles go to 14 straight NAIA National Tournaments, with seven KCAC tournament championships.
In addition to his coaching duties, Peterson is also an assistant athletic director at OKWU.
Up Next: The Falcons will play their next game Saturday afternoon at home against Sterling College on Oct. 11. Kick off at Adair-Austin stadium is set for 4:30 PM.
Men's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers:
Overall: 1-8-1
KCAC: 1-3-1
Home: 1-3-1
Away: 0-5
Scoring zero goals: 0-3
Scoring one goal: 1-3-1
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: 0-3
Allowing three goals: 0-3
Allowing 4+ goals: 0-2
Leading at halftime: 1-0
Trailing at halftime: 0-5
Tied at halftime: 0-2-1
Leading in shots-on-goal: 0-2
Trailing in shots-on-goal: 0-5-1
Shots-on-goal are even: 0-1
