KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Friends Falcons (3-5-0, 2-0-0 KCAC) shook off some of their early season offensive struggles and exacted a little revenge on Avila (2-5-0, 0-2-0 KCAC) after last year's impressive Eagle performance by flying past Avila 7-1 on Wednesday afternoon at The Z.

A season ago in Wichita, Avila battled a top-of-the-table Friends team to a 2-2 draw, one of the Eagles' best performances of the 2021 season. Friends had struggled to open this season, but the Falcons were able to score early and often Wednesday to coast to a win: Friends scored three times in the first 20 minutes of the first half and three more time in the first 20 minutes of the second half to build up a lead that was impossible to overcome.

Juan Zamora was once again at the center of the action for the Falcons, as he has been for the last few seasons. The veteran striker scored three goals, including a pair of penalty kicks, and assisted on a pair of tallies by Guilherme Oliveira, to help Friends out to a 5-0 lead. Oliveira then set up Yushin Kitada in the box with a cross from the right wing to make it 6-0 midway through the second half.

The Eagles were able to activate their offense more as the game went on, and Avila actually out-shot Friends overall in the match. Brennan Ortega, Vincent Escott and Landon Burdick all attempted a trio of shots for the Eagles, most of which came after halftime as Avila tried to push into territory and pull some positives from the game.

Finally, with just under seven minutes to play, the Eagles found that positive. After Kyle Gross sent in a dangerous pass off a free kick that was ultimately handled by Friends, the Falcons turned it over in their own end. That sprung AJ Rankin in stride into the attacking third, and he swiftly tapped it over to Sam Kanda on the right flank, and Kanda did the rest, zooming into the box and sliding a shot underneath Friends goalie Felipe Garcia to get the Eagles on the board. It was Kanda's first goal of the season, and second in as many years against Friends. The Falcons managed to get one more goal in the final minute of play to wrap up a convincing 7-1 victory.

Avila men's soccer will return to action this Saturday, September 24, for another home KCAC doubleheader at The Z, this time against McPherson. Kickoff is scheduled for approximately 2 PM following the conclusion of the women's game. As always, you can watch all the action live on the Avila Sports Network.