Men's Soccer 11/6/2025 5:04:00 PM

(21) Men's Soccer Set For KCAC Semifinal Bout With Kansas Wesleyan

OTTAWA, Kan. - The Ottawa men's soccer looks to book their ticket in the KCAC Tournament Championship as they take on third-seeded Kansas Wesleyan in the semifinals in Wichita.

Ottawa is 12-1-6 on the season and 10-0-3 in KCAC play.
The Braves are coming off a 2-1 overtime win over McPherson on Tuesday in the quarterfinals.
In that game, McPherson took the lead in the 54th minute, and Antonio Natalucci tied the game up with just 80 seconds to go. Four minutes into the first golden goal overtime period, Khalil Al Harthi headed in a corner from Alonso Basauri to win the game for Ottawa.
Antonio Natalucci leads Ottawa in goals with fourteen, while Alonso Basauri leads the Braves in assists with sixteen.
Kansas Wesleyan comes into this contest with a 13-3-3 overall record and a 9-2-2 KCAC record.
The Coyotes are coming off a 4-1 quarterfinal win over Tabor at home on Tuesday.
Noel Zimbeva and Mateo Hoyos are Kansas Wesleyan's joint-leading goalscorers with ten each. Seth Flores leads the Coyotes in assists with eight.
Ottawa and Kansas Wesleyan have met 36 times, Kansas Wesleyan leads the series 20-13-3.
The regular season matchup between the two squads was a 3-2 home victory for Ottawa.
In that game, Seth Flores scored first to give Kansas Wesleyan a lead in the 22nd minute. Antonio Natalucci scored in the 33rd to tie the game up going into halftime. Sam Hatswell gave Ottawa the lead off an assist from Alonso Basauri in the 68th minute, and the lead doubled in the 74th as Felipe Padierna found Martin Basso. Mateo Hoyos scored just 25 seconds later to nullify that goal, putting the lead back at one. Kansas Wesleyan had many opportunities to score, including some shots that required massive saves by David Martinez, and crossbar and post contact.
Ottawa is 12-0-3 in games where they have scored at least one goal.
The Braves are 12-0-1 when they have scored at least two goals.
Ottawa is 5-0-2 in shutouts, and 5-0-3 when allowing just one goal.
Ottawa is on a fifteen game unbeaten streak winning the last three and tying three in that stretch.
This is the first neutral site game for either team, though Ottawa is 5-1-3 on the road and Kansas Wesleyan is 4-1-3 away from home.
Alonso Basauri's 16 assists puts him second in the NAIA in that category.
Ottawa and McPherson have met five times in the KCAC Tournament, those games are all knotted up at 2-2-1.
Ottawa has won the KCAC Tournament just once, doing so in 2004.
Ottawa has reached the championship game of the KCAC Tournament four times, including each of the last two seasons.
Since the KCAC Tournament moved to the Stryker Sports Complex in 2018 for the semifinals and championship, Ottawa is 3-2 in those rounds, including 2-1 in the semifinal rounds.
Those two wins came in each of the last two seasons, 2-1 and 2-0 wins over Kansas Wesleyan.
All four top seeds advanced to the semifinal round of the KCAC Tournament.
Should Ottawa advance, they will take on the winner of (1) Oklahoma Wesleyan and York, which will play before them at 5 PM.
Should Ottawa and Oklahoma Wesleyan both advance, Ottawa would guarantee themselves the KCAC's second automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.