Men's Soccer 10/30/2026 12:45:00 PM

Men's Soccer Gameday Preview: Falcons look to finish historic regular season strong on Senior Day tomorrow

Photo Credit: Aidyn Neitzler

The Lowdown: McPherson College at Friends University

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium

Kickoff: Oct. 31 @ 2:30 PM

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

Live Stats: https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/msoc/2026-27/conf/KCAC/Box_Scores/20261031_d29p.xml

Tickets: https://tickets.friendsathletics.com/section/mens-and-womens-soccer-geww?_ga=2.51442922.2139192565.1793134637-504930412.1755806170

Flying with the Falcons (13-3-1, 11-1 KCAC)

The Falcons are coming off a historic 2-0 shutout victory over the Ottawa Braves on Wednesday, clinching their first KCAC regular-season championship since 2006 and punching their ticket to the NAIA National Tournament.

Andrea Michael Xibilia opened the scoring for Friends off an assist from Greyson York before Diego Marin doubled the lead with an assist from Erik Huerta to secure the victory.

Wednesday's win marked the Falcons' 10th shutout of the season, with goalkeepers Keagan Lewis and Cameron Stout playing key roles in the team's defensive success throughout the year. Lewis recorded four saves against Ottawa to preserve the shutout.

After winning just four games last season, the Falcons have completed a remarkable turnaround, entering Senior Day with 13 victories and a chance to reach 14 with a win over McPherson. A victory would match the regular-season win total of the 2019 Falcons, the last Friends men's soccer team to reach the NAIA National Tournament.

Statistically for the Falcons they have been dominating on both sides of the ball. With 60 goals for on the season the Friends attack has been putting on constant pressure on their opponents. Austin Wyn Davies and Diego Marin lead in goal scoring for the Falcons with 12 goals each. Eduardo Gomez is the leader for the Falcons in assists with nine.

Dish on the Bulldogs (8-5-4, 7-2-3 KCAC)

The Bulldogs are coming off a 4-2 victory over Kansas Wesleyan and currently sit in sixth place in the KCAC standings.

Leading the Bulldogs' offensive attack is Nathan Van Wyck, who has recorded a team-high 17 goals this season, including one in McPherson's most recent win over Kansas Wesleyan. Van Wyck also leads the team with six assists, making him the centerpiece of the Bulldogs' offense.

Defensively, McPherson is anchored by goalkeeper Alvaro Marchal, who has started 15 matches this season. Marchal has recorded a 0.75 goals-against average (GAA) and seven shutouts, providing a strong presence in goal for the Bulldogs.

The Series: The last time these two teams met, the Bulldogs came away with a 3-1 victory over the Falcons. Friends holds a 13-14-2 all-time record against McPherson and will look to even the series at 14-14-2 with a victory on Senior Day.

The Coaches:

Bryan Perez is in his sixth season as head coach of the Friends University men's soccer program.

In 2024, 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.

During 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 for 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).

Kent Freund: Kent Freund is entering his second season as McPherson College Men's Soccer head coach.

In his first season at the helm, Freund returned just one-third of the Bulldogs' scoring from the previous season, but brought in 13 new players, including five transfers. Under Freund, Anthony Pereira scored a team-high 10 goals for the Bulldogs and assisted on two more. Pereira is the first Bulldog to score double-digit goals since the 2018 season.

Freund spent four seasons at McPherson College, the first two as an assistant coach and the latter two as associate head coach. During his time with the Bulldogs, he helped lead them to a pair of national tournament berths and coached four NAIA All-American selections.

Prior to arriving in McPherson, Freund was a graduate assistant at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan., where he helped lead the Wildcats to four straight NAIA Tournaments.

Freund also spent time as the varsity girls assistant coach and goalkeeper coach at Blue Valley Southwest High School, leading them to back-to-back Class 5A State Championships.

He was also a standout collegiate goalkeeper, leading NCAA Division II Fort Hays State University to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament in 2014. He was a four-year letter winner for the Tigers and a first-team All-MIAA selection in 2014. Freund left FHSU with the most wins, most saves, and most shutouts in a single season and career in program history.

Freund holds a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from Fort Hays State and a Master's degree in Sports Management from Baker University.

Up Next: The Falcons will be the number one seed in the KCAC tournament and host the opening round at Adair-Austin Stadium. The Falcons will play Kansas Wesleyan if they beat Avila on Sunday as they currently hold the eight spot in the standings.

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 13-3-1

KCAC: 11-1

Home: 7-0

Away: 6-3-1

Scoring zero goals: 0-0

Scoring one goal: 13-3-1

Scoring two goals: 12-2-1

Scoring three goals: 8-0-1

Scoring 4+ goals: 5-0

Allowing zero goals: 10-0

Allowing one goal: 4-2-1