The Lowdown: Southwestern College at Friends University

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium      

Kickoff: Sept. 17 @ 7:30 PM

Live Stream: https://urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/2857

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

Flying with the Women's Soccer Falcons (2-2-1, 0-0, KCAC)

The Falcons are coming off a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Hastings College last Saturday evening (Sept. 13) in Hastings, Neb. and are now 2-2-1 overall on the season.

Kieley Aranda leads the Falcons with three goals and Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo and Trinity Granger are tops with two assists each.

Morgan Wilkinson has 23 saves with a 1.47 goals-against average during her nearly 428 minutes in the net for Friends.  

Dish on the Lady Builders (0-3, 0-0 KCAC)

The Southwestern College Lady Builders have lost all three matches this season heading into KCAC play.

The Lady Builders have scored two goals in their three outings, one each by Natalie Belanger and Millie Hazzard.

Hayden Clark has played all 270 minutes in the net and has a 2.00 GAA with 31 saves.

The Series: The Falcons lost 1-0 at Southwestern last season and are 12-7-4 vs. the Lady Builders since 2004, with a 6-1-3 mark in Wichita during that stretch.

KCAC Opener History: The Falcons have won four straight KCAC opening matches and are 4-0-1 in their last five KCAC opening tilts.

The Coaches:

Brent Hobson enters 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.

Harry Simpson is in his third season as head coach of the Southwestern College Lady Builders. For the previous two years, Simpson was a graduate assistant coach for the Lady Builders.

Simpson played collegiately for the University of Wisconsin-Superior and contributed to a conference tournament championship and a bid to the NCAA Division III championship while also competing briefly for the men's tennis team.

Prior to his college career, Simpson competed for the Derbyshire Football Club at the U18 level.

Up Next: The Falcons will stay home and host (RV) Kansas Wesleyan University Saturday afternoon (Sept. 20) at 4:30 pm at Adair-Austin Stadium.   

Women's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 2-2-1

KCAC: 0-0

Home: 1-0

Away: 1-2-1

Scoring zero goals: 0-2-1

Scoring one goal: 0-0

Scoring two goals: 0-0

Scoring three goals: 0-0

Scoring 4+ goals: 2-0

Allowing zero goals: 2-0-1

Allowing one goal: 0-0

Allowing two goals: 0-0

Allowing three goals: 0-0

Allowing 4+ goals: 0-2

Leading at halftime: 2-0

Trailing at halftime: 0-2

Tied at halftime: 0-0-1

Leading in shots-on-goal: 2-0-1

Trailing in shots-on-goal: 0-2

Shots-on-goal are even: 0-0