The Lowdown: Bethany College at Friends University
Location: Adair-Austin Stadium
Kickoff: Sept. 27 @ 1:30 PM
Live Stream: https://urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/2850
Live Stats: https://friendsathletics.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary
Flying with the Men's Soccer Falcons (0-6-1, 0-1-1, KCAC)
The Falcons secured a 1-1 draw against Kansas Wesleyan University last Saturday night (Sept. 20) on a game-tying goal by Eddy Rachedi in the 82nd minute.
Andres Michael Xibilia leads the Falcons with three goals and Sora Shibata has two scores.
Arturo Pombo-Palomero has made 19 stops with a 2.29 GAA during his 315 minutes at goalkeeper, while Juan Jose Echeverry has played 247 minutes in the net with 13 saves and a 2.91 goals-against-average for the Falcons.
Dish on the Swedes (3-3, 1-1 KCAC)
The Bethany College Swedes are coming off a 1-0 loss at Avila University and are now 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the KCAC.
Baptista Amofa and Emmanuel Dukuly have each scored four goals to lead the Bethany offense this year.
Gunvald Andresen has made 34 saves with a 3.25 GAA in 360 minutes in goal this season for the Swedes.
The Series: The Falcons routed the Swedes 7-0 in Wichita last season and are unbeaten in the last six meetings. Friends has a 5-0-1 mark during that stretch vs. Bethany.
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).
Dane Straight is in his second season as head coach of the Bethany College men's soccer program. Straight has previous collegiate head coaching stops at McPherson College (1999-2000) and Cloud Community College (2004-07) before helping start the men's and women's soccer programs at Cowley College as an assistant coach. He later served as head women's soccer coach at Cowley until 2017.
As a player, Straight contributed to the start of the Bethany College men's soccer program in 1992.
Up Next: The Falcons will play their first road KCAC contest next Wednesday night (Oct. 1) at the University of Saint Mary. Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm in Leavenworth, Kan.
Men's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers:
Overall: 0-6-1
KCAC: 0-1-1
Home: 0-3-1
Away: 0-3
Scoring zero goals: 0-2
Scoring one goal: 0-2-1
Scoring two goals: 0-2
Scoring three goals: 0-0
Scoring 4+ goals: 0-0
Allowing zero goals: 0-0
Allowing one goal: 0-1-1
Allowing two goals: 0-2
Allowing three goals: 0-2
Allowing 4+ goals: 0-1
Leading at halftime: 0-0
Trailing at halftime: 0-4
Tied at halftime: 0-2-1
Leading in shots-on-goal: 0-0
Trailing in shots-on-goal: 0-5-1
Shots-on-goal are even: 0-1
