Women's Soccer 8/23/2026 12:48:00 PM

Women's Soccer Gameday Preview: Falcons open up 2026 season tonight with intriguing home matchup vs. Oral Roberts

The Lowdown: Oral Roberts University at Friends University

* 2026 Season Opener

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium

Kickoff: Aug. 23 @ 7:00 PM

Live Stream: https://www.urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/122

Live Stats: https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/wsoc/2026-27/boxscores/20260823_lbdu.xml

Flying with the Women's Soccer Falcons (0-0, 0-0 KCAC)

The Falcons finished second in the KCAC for the fourth time in the past 11 years and made their fifth NAIA National Tournament appearance in the last seven seasons after posting a 14-4-4 overall record and a 10-1-2 conference mark in 2025. Friends also advanced to the KCAC tournament title match before falling in penalty kicks to regular season champion Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Friends was picked to again finish second in the KCAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. Head coach Brent Hobson returns multiple All-KCAC performers from last year, including a trio that was selected to the KCAC Preseason Team (Kieley Aranda, Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo & Paige Putter). Click HERE for the full 2026 season preview!

Dish on the Golden Eagles (3-0, 0-0 Summit)

The Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles, an NCAA Division I program out of the Summit League, are off to a 3-0 start this season with wins at Central Arkansas and home victories over Rogers State University and UC Riverside. Brianna Castleberry leads ORU thus far with three goals and Cameron Silva has recorded a team-best four assists.

The Series: The Falcons and Golden Eagles met for the first time on record last season, with ORU prevailing 4-0 in Tulsa, Okla.

Just Take Me Half the Way: When the Falcons led at the half last season, they won all 13 matches. But they lost all three times they trailed at intermission and were 1-1-4 when the match was tied at the half, including a 3-1 setback to Hastings College in the NAIA First Round following a scoreless first half.

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 130-79-23.

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.

Austin Risenhoover is in his fifth season as head coach of the Oral Roberts University women's soccer program. During his four seasons at the helm, Risenhoover has guided the Golden Eagles to three appearances in the Summit League Championship game (2022, 2024, 2025).

Before coming to ORU, Risenhoover was the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of California and put together TopDrawerSoccer.com's No. 1-ranked recruiting class for the 2021 season. He also has coaching stops at the University California, Santa Barbara and Cal State Monterey Bay after beginning his coaching career as an assistant coach for both the men's and women's teams at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO).

Collegiately, Risenhoover played at Bacone College and was a two-time All-Red River conference performer.

Up Next: The Falcons will play at Mid-America Christian University Thursday night (Aug. 27) at 7:30 pm in Oklahoma City.

Women's Soccer Falcons by the Numbers (2025):

Overall: 14-4-4

KCAC: 10-1-2

Home: 7-1-1

Away: 6-2-2

Neutral: 1-1-1

Scoring zero goals: 0-3-3

Scoring one goal: 3-1-1

Scoring two goals: 1-0

Scoring three goals: 3-0