The Lowdown: Kansas Wesleyan University @ Friends University
* KCAC Postseason Tournament Semifinal
Location: Adair-Austin Stadium       Â
Kickoff: Nov. 7 @ 7 PM
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Flying with the Women's Soccer Falcons (12-5-2, 10-3-0 KCAC)
The Friends University Falcons advanced to the KCAC Postseason Tournament Semifinal round for the fifth straight season by winning a penalty kick shootout against the Ottawa University Braves Wednesday night (Nov. 4) at Adair-Austin Stadium. With Ottawa leading 1-0, Kieley Aranda put in a penalty kick to tie the score at the 68:52 mark. Following two scoreless 10 minute overtime periods, the Falcons came away with a 4-3 win on penalty kicks. Read the full recap of the Falcons' KCAC quarterfinal battle with Ottawa HERE!.
Kieley Aranda leads the Falcons with 10 goals and Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo is right behind with eight goals on the season. Both Aranda and Ibarra-Arevalo have registered four game-winning goals that rank tied for second in the KCAC. Liset Vallejo has dished out a team-leading three assists.Â
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 1.07 GAA with 58 saves while ranking fourth in the KCAC in save percentage (.829). In eight outings this season, Apple has posted a 0.57 GAA with 18 saves overall.
Dish on the Coyotes (11-4-4, 9-1-3 KCAC)
The Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes moved into the KCAC semifinals with a 2-0 win over Tabor on Wednesday.
Brooklyn Velotta has anchored the Coyote offense this season, leading the team and ranking tied for second in the KCAC with 15 goals. Lexi Jack and Ashlynn Adcock have each recorded a team-leading four assists.
Bianca Waxman has accumulated a 1.12 GAA with 50 saves during her 1448:48 in the net this season.
The Series: Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo scored in the 56th minute to propel the Falcons to a 2-1 win at Kansas Wesleyan in the first meeting this season in Salina, Kan. Friends has now won the last six matchups in the series but is just 9-19-2 vs. KWU since 2004 after the Coyotes reeled off 17 straight wins from 2005-17. Friends is 3-8-1 against Kansas Wesleyan in Wichita during that stretch.
Postseason Success: The Falcons have enjoyed immense success recently in the KCAC Postseason Tournament, having now advanced to the semifinal round for the past five seasons and the championship match the last three years. In 2024, the Falcons defeated York University 1-0 to capture the program's first conference tournament title of the modern era.
Game-winning goals galore: As mentioned above, Kieley Aranda and Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo are tied for second in the KCAC with four game-winning goals. It's a four-way tie for second that also features KWU's Brooklyn Velotta recording four game-winning goals this season.
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 Kauffman 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 141-84-25.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
He also coached six Falcons to all-conference honors, including KCAC Goalkeeper of the Year Lauren Ferguson.Â
The Falcons also soared off the pitch under Hobson, with a conference-high 18 student-athletes receiving KCAC Scholar-Athlete honors.Â
During the 2017Â campaign, Hobson guided the squad to a fourth-place conference finish and a KCAC quarterfinal home match, with five Falcons earning all-conference recognition.Â
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.Â
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.
Michael McIntyre is in his first season as head coach of the Kansas Wesleyan University women's soccer program.
Before coming back to KWU, McIntyre had a brief tenure as the head women's club coach at NCAA Division I Valparaiso University (Ind.)
McIntyre is familiar with the team, having served as assistant coach at KWU during the 2024 & 25 seasons and helping the team post a 21-4-1 conference record while also coaching the developmental squad.
His coaching career began as a graduate assistant goalkeeper coach at Concordia (Neb.) for three seasons.
McIntyre played collegiately at Trinty Christian College (Ill.) and was the goalkeeper for three seasons.
Up Next: With a win over Kansas Wesleyan tonight in the semifinals, the Falcons would make their fourth straight appearance in the KCAC tournament title match and would face the winner of top-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan University and fifth-seeded Avila University next Wednesday (Nov. 11) at 4 pm at Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita. Â Â
Women's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers: (Stats do not reflect forfeit victory vs. Bethany)
Overall: 12-5-2
KCAC: 10-3-0
Home: 5-3-1
Away: 6-2-1
Neutral: 1-0-0
Scoring zero goals: 0-2-1
Scoring one goal: 3-3-1
Scoring two goals: 3-0-0
Scoring three goals: 3-0-0
Scoring 4+ goals: 2-0-0
Allowing zero goals: 9-0-1
Allowing one goal: 2-1-1
Allowing two goals: 0-1-0
Allowing three goals: 0-2-0
Allowing 4+ goals: 0-1-0
Leading at halftime: 7-0-0
Trailing at halftime: 0-4-1
Tied at halftime: 4-1-1
Leading in shots-on-goal: 9-2-1
Trailing in shots-on-goal: 1-3-1
Shots-on-goal are even: 1-0-0
