Women's Soccer 10/2/2026 2:13:00 PM

Women's Soccer Gameday Preview: Falcons host York tomorrow night in search of sixth straight win

Photo Credit: Cameron Snodgrass

The Lowdown: York University @ Friends University

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium

Kickoff: Oct. 3 @ 8 PM

Live Stream: https://kcacnetwork.com/friends/

Live Stats: https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/wsoc/2026-27/conf/KCAC/boxscores/20261003_px5g.xml

Tickets: https://tickets.friendsathletics.com/section/mens-and-womens-soccer-geww

Flying with the Women's Soccer Falcons (5-2-1, 3-0 KCAC)

The Friends University Falcons secured their fifth straight victory with a 4-1 victory over the University of Saint Mary Spires on Wednesday (Sept. 30) to move to 5-2-1 overall and 3-0 in the KCAC. Kieley Aranda and Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo each scored a goal and dished out an assist in the win for the Falcons.

Aranda and Ibarra-Arevalo each lead the Falcons with three goals on the season, with Francesca Jones and Liset Vallejo leading the team with two assists apiece. Ibarra-Arevalo has been particularly clutch this season, ranking tied for second in the KCAC with three game-winning goals.

Camilla Apple has been stifling in her 315 minutes in the net this season, making 10 saves and ranking tied for first in the KCAC and tied for third in the NAIA in GAA (0.29). Apple is also second in the league and fifth in the NAIA in save percentage (.909). Kaitlyn Martinez has also been solid in her 405 minutes at goalkeeper, recording a 1.56 GAA while ranking tied for third in the KCAC in saves (39) and fourth in save percentage (.848).

Dish on the Panthers (1-5-2, 0-4 KCAC)

The York University Panthers are 1-5-2 overall and 0-4 in the KCAC, having dropped five straight matches by either a 1-0 or 2-0 score.

Samantha Bayer and Jenna Tutt each lead the Panthers with two goals and Maisie Briscoe has recorded a team-high two assists.

Addison Stewart has played 622:32 minutes at goalkeeper with a 1.30 GAA and ranks fifth in the KCAC with 37 saves on the season.

The Series: The Falcons shutout the Panthers 3-0 on the road last year and have now won five straight meetings in the series. Friends is 9-2-3 overall vs. York since 2010 with a 5-1-2 mark in Wichita during that stretch.

Fore! The Falcons scored a season-high four goals in Wednesday's 4-1 victory over Saint Mary for their fifth straight victory.

Top of the League: The Falcons have been well represented in the KCAC weekly honors this year. Friends swept the KCAC Offensive (Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo) and Defensive (Alayna Runck) Player of the Week awards on Sept. 14 before Paige Putter was named the league's top defender on Sept. 22.

The Coaches:

Brent Hobson is in his 13th season leading the Falcons women's soccer team for the 2026 season. After failing to qualify for the NAIA National Tournament for 15 seasons, Hobson has now guided the Falcons to five national appearances in the past seven years. In his 12 seasons at the helm, Hobson has amassed an overall record of 135-81-24.

Last season, the Falcons went 14-4-4 and finished second in the KCAC regular season for the fourth time in the past 11 seasons.

The 2024 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.

Benny Hanaphy and Greg Reynolds are co-head coaches of the York University women's soccer program. Both have a familiarity with the university, as Hanaphy played for the men's soccer team from 2005-08 and served as a captain while being a two-time first-team all-conference selection and a two-time second-team all-conference performer. He was also the Men's Scholar Athlete of the Year for York in 2007. His coaching career includes a stop as a Graduate Assistant at Concordia (Neb.), where he helped the program win the GPAC title and earn an NAIA National Tournament appearance. After wrapping up his collegiate career at York, Hanaphy played two seasons in the PDL (Premier Development League), one season at Kalamazoo (Mich.) and one season in New Orleans, La.

Before Reynolds was the head coach at York, he was an assistant coach for the Panthers men's and women's soccer teams. Reynolds was a first-team all-conference player for the York men's soccer program and played for the Panthers from 1996-99. His playing career also includes the Wichita Jets, a semi-professional team in the PDL.

Up Next: The Falcons play in Bartlesville, Okla. for a showdown at No. 24-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University on Wednesday evening (Oct. 7) at 5 pm.

Women's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 5-2-1

KCAC: 3-0-0

Home: 2-1-0

Away: 2-1-1

Neutral: 1-0-0

Scoring zero goals: 0-1-1

Scoring one goal: 2-1-0

Scoring two goals: 1-0-0

Scoring three goals: 1-0-0

Scoring 4+ goals: 1-0-0

Allowing zero goals: 3-0-1