Men's Soccer 11/6/2026 1:03:00 PM

Men's Soccer Gameday Preview: Falcons looking for KCAC Championship appearance against Saint Mary tonight

Photo Credit: Landon Thweatt

The Lowdown: University of Saint Mary at Friends University

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium

Kickoff: Nov. 6 @ 7:00 PM

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

Live Stats: https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/msoc/2026-27/conf/KCAC/Box_Scores/20261106_l3l0.xml

Tickets: https://events.hometownticketing.com/boxoffice/kcac/L2VtYmVkL2V2ZW50LzUzNQ%3D%3D?_ga=2.38456224.226934409.1793938662-504930412.1755806170

Flying with the Falcons (15-3-1, 12-1 KCAC)

The Falcons won the quarterfinal over Kansas Wesleyan with a 4-0 shutout. Friends outshot Kansas Wesleyan 14-4 and held a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal. Jose Quiel, who has been on a late season terror for the Falcons, put in two goals and assisted on two of the other goals as well. Eduardo Enrique Gomez Montt scored two goals in the quarterfinal match. If the Friends' offense gets these two going early it will be a tough game for the Saint Mary defense.

Goalkeepers Cameron Stout and Keagan Lewis have split time in goal. The duo has also recorded 11 shutouts this season, setting a new program record for the most shutouts in a single season in the modern era of Friends men's soccer. The last team in program history to have this many shutouts in a season was the 2007 and 2009 teams with eight.

Offensively, the Falcons have been led by three double-digit goal scorers this season. Diego Marin (13), Jose Quiel (13) and Austin Wyn Davies (12) have been key contributors to a Friends attack that ranks among the nation's best. Quiel has also been nearly unstoppable from the penalty spot, converting all six of his attempts this season and making opposing teams pay for their mistakes.

Dish on the Spires (9-6-3, 8-4-1 KCAC)

The Spires in the quarterfinal went into York and ended the Panthers season with a 1-0 victory. Lucas Meneses scored the deciding goal for the Spires in the 2nd half with three minutes to go.

Saint Mary outshot York 14-3 with six on net and put pressure on the Panthers all game. A scoreless first half led to a big goal by Meneses with little time remaining.

Mario Santoro is the leading goalscorer for the Spires netting 11 goals and his teammate Luis Rincon has eight. Xavier Ezell has started every game for the Spires at goalkeeper playing all 18 games. He has a 1.22 (GAA) with six shutouts this season.

The Series: The last time these two teams met, Friends came away with a 2-0 shutout victory in Wichita. Elijah Castillo and Erik Huerta scored the goals for the Falcons in the shutout victory.

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).

Derek Mazeitis will enter his 22nd season at the helm of the University of Saint Mary Men's Soccer program, taking over as head coach in 2005.

During his tenure at Saint Mary, Coach Mazeitis has seen his teams earn berths into regional, conference post-season play and the NAIA National Tournament. Under the direction of Mazeitis, many Spires have received All-KCAC and All-Region recognition. Spire athletes have been named KCAC Goalkeeper of the Year, KCAC Newcomer of the Year, and KCAC Freshman of the Year. During his tenure, several Spires have been named to the KCAC All conference teams with First Team, Second Team, and Honorable Mention recognition.

Coach Mazeitis has also seen some of his players recognized as CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, and his teams have received KCAC All-Scholar Team recognition. He has also had multiple teams recognized as the KCAC Team of Character.

Mazeitis received a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Science from Truman State University (Kirksville, Missouri) in 1996 and received a Master's degree in Education from the University of Saint Mary in 2010.

Coach Mazeitis, a native of Leavenworth, enjoys spending time with his wife, Dana, and their two sons, Aidan and Cooper at home in Kansas City, Missouri.

Up Next: The winner of this game will move to the KCAC Championship at Stryker Sports Complex. The Championship game will be on November 11th in Wichita.

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 15-3-1

KCAC: 12-1

Home: 9-0

Away: 6-3-1

Scoring zero goals: 0-0

Scoring one goal: 15-3-1

Scoring two goals: 14-2-1

Scoring three goals: 10-0-1

Scoring 4+ goals: 6-0

Allowing zero goals: 11-0

Allowing one goal: 4-2-1