OTTAWA, Kan. - Fresh off the announcement of the highest preseason ranking in program history, Ottawa University heads to Fayette, Mo., on Saturday for its season opener against (RV) Central Methodist University. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.
Although the graduation of First Team NAIA All-American
Alonso Basauri will be felt in the attack, Ottawa returns the bulk of their offensive output from 2026, with Second Team All-American
Antonio Natalucci (15 g, 3 a) and
Jevan Purcell-Jackson (12 g, 4 a) both back in the lineup for the Black and Gold.
"Having a returning All-American, especially with the landscape how it is now with transfers and the NCAA picking off players, we're very fortunate," said head coach
James Cottage. "But we also had four guys that had season-ending injuries in the preseason; we had a great year, but if only we had this group as well. Now we do have them back and they're firing big in the preseason."
Ottawa will also see big gains from a pair of players who missed the 2025 season due to injury in
Slobodan Novicevic and
Cale Scott. Senior Novicevic is a three-time all-KCAC honoree and was named KCAC Freshman of the Year in 2022, and has recorded 33 goals and 22 assists during his career. Scott, a redshirt junior, earned First Team All-KCAC honors in 2024, scoring 13 goals with 10 assists on the year.
Defensively, incoming transfer
Alex Neri brings a wealth of experience to the goalkeeping corps, joining Ottawa after two years with Wayland Baptist University, where he helped the Pioneers to an NCCAA postseason berth in 2025. Neri posted a goals-against average of 1.83, picking up seven wins and three draws on the year with two shutouts.
Saturday's match is the first of Ottawa's five non-conference matchups on the year, with three of those opponents either ranked or receiving votes in the 2026 NAIA Men's Soccer Preseason Poll.
"The KCAC is a tough conference in the sense of going away to teams where the game is bigger because it feels like there's a bit of a target on our back, ranked 16th in the country," said Cottage. "We have to prepare by booking a non-conference schedule that is going to prepare us for the tougher matches. With four matches against teams from the Heart - which I think is the best conference in the country - including a team like MidAmerica Nazarene who has been to the national tournament for what feels like 10 years in a row and Midland who was dominant in the GPAC last year, it will really help peel back what you're good at and what you need to work on."
Saturday's match will be streamed on the Urban Edge Network, with live stats also available.
