Women's Soccer 10/30/2026 10:57:00 AM

Women's Soccer Gameday Preview: Falcons wrap up regular season action at home tomorrow vs. McPherson

Photo Credit: Cami Snodgrass

The Lowdown: McPherson College @ Friends University

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium

Kickoff: Oct. 31 @ 12:00 PM

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

Live Stats: https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/wsoc/2026-27/conf/KCAC/boxscores/20261031_iqn9.xml

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

Flying with the Women's Soccer Falcons (12-4-1, 10-2-0 KCAC)

The Friends University Falcons had their five-match winning streak snapped when Reece Young scored the only goal of the match in the 77^th minute to give the Ottawa University Braves a 1-0 win. The Falcons are now 12-4-1 overall and remain in the second spot in the KCAC with a 10-2 conference mark. Read the full recap of the Falcons' match vs. Ottawa HERE!

Kieley Aranda and Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo each lead the Falcons with eight goals on the season, with both registering four game-winning goals that rank tied for second in the KCAC. Liset Vallejo has dished out a team-leading three assists.

Kaitlyn Martinez and Camilla Apple have each provided solid minutes in the net this season for the Falcons. Martinez has played in 11 matches and has recorded a 1.10 GAA with 56 saves while ranking fifth in the KCAC in save percentage (.836). In seven outings this season, Apple has been extremely effective with a 0.17 GAA, a .938 save percentage and 15 saves overall.

Dish on the Bulldogs (12-3-2, 8-2-2 KCAC)

The McPherson College Bulldogs are 12-3-2 overall and occupy the fourth spot in the KCAC with an 8-2-2 conference mark.

Jordyn Smith leads McPherson and the KCAC with 15 goals on the season, with Gracie Speltz second on the team with six goals along with a team-high five assists.

Emily Singletary has been stellar in the net this season for the Bulldogs, recording a 0.54 GAA with 62 saves while ranking tied for first in the KCAC with eight shutouts.

The Series: The Falcons have dominated the recent matchups with the Bulldogs, winning 10 straight in the series. Friends is 14-5-3 vs. McPherson since 2004 and is 6-3-2 in Wichita.

Playoff Scenarios: Heading into Saturday's regular season finale vs. McPherson, the Falcons could finish anywhere from first to third in the KCAC. The projected scenarios are below: (Refer to the KCAC for all confirmed seeding scenarios)

Win – clinches second place

Win & Oklahoma Wesleyan loses – clinches conference championship

Win & Oklahoma Wesleyan ties – clinches second place

Lose and Kansas Wesleyan loses – clinches second place

Lose and Kansas Wesleyan wins – clinches third place

Tie and Kansas Wesleyan wins – clinches third place

Fore! The Falcons have scored a season-high four goals twice this season, first in a 4-1 win over Saint Mary (Sept. 30) and then again in a 4-0 victory at Sterling on Oct. 10.

Top of the League: The Falcons have been well represented in the KCAC weekly honors this year. Friends has twice swept the KCAC awards, most recently with Kieley Aranda winning Offensive Player of the Week and Payton Kaufmann garnering Defensive Player of the Week recognition on Oct. 19. Earlier in the season, the Falcons also swept the KCAC Offensive (Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo) and Defensive (Alayna Runck) awards on Sept. 14 before Paige Putter was named the league's top defender on Sept. 22.

The Coaches:

Brent Hobson 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 141-83-24.

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.

Ian Thomson is in his second season as head coach of the McPherson College Women's Soccer program. In his first year at the helm, the Bulldogs went 6-9-3 for the team's most wins since the 2017 season.

Before arriving at McPherson, Thomson was the head coach at Tabor College for 10 seasons. He won 74 games at Tabor to become the program's all-time winningest coach.

Thomson was also the head coach at Independence Community College for five seasons before Tabor and was also the all-time leader in wins at ICC.

Collegiately, Thomson played at Neosho County Community College and then Tabor.

Up Next: The Falcons will host a KCAC postseason tournament quarterfinal match Wednesday night (Nov. 4) at 6:30 pm, with opponent TBD.

Women's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers: (Stats do not reflect forfeit victory vs. Bethany)

Overall: 12-4-1

KCAC: 10-2-0

Home: 5-2-0

Away: 6-2-1

Neutral: 1-0-0

Scoring zero goals: 0-2-1

Scoring one goal: 3-2-0

Scoring two goals: 3-0-0