November 12, 2003

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced today that Loras College senior forward Brad Johnson (Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead HS) has been named the 2003 IIAC Men’s Soccer Most Valuable Player and Wartburg College head coach Jim Conlon has been named the 2003 IIAC Men’s Soccer Coach of the Year.

Johnson scored a team-high 14 goals and 33 points in 18 games this season becoming the school’s career leader in both categories. He finished his collegiate career with 44 goals and 99 points. Johnson’s four game-winning goals this season tied for the team lead and set a new Loras single-season record. He increased his school record to 13 career game-winning goals.

In six Iowa Conference games, Johnson scored five goals and 11 points in leading Loras to their first-ever Conference title. A four-time All-Conference selection, Johnson tied for third in the Conference in both goals scored and points scored while ranking second in points per game (1.83) and third in goals per game (0.83). He also tied for second in the IIAC with two game-winning goals.

Conlon, in his fourth year as head coach at Wartburg, led the Knights’ to their first-ever Iowa Conference Tournament title and first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Wartburg enters the NCAA Tournament with a 14-4-1 overall record, the best mark in the program’s history. Conlon led the team to a 6-2-0 Conference record and a second place finish in the regular season. Wartburg avenged one of its regular season Conference losses with a 3-2 victory over Loras in the IIAC Tournament Championship match. Wartburg enters the 2003 NCAA Tournament with a 35-35-3 overall record (.500 winning pct.) in Conlon’s four seasons.

The IIAC also announced today the Men’s Soccer All-Conference Team. The 26-member Team includes 13 First Team players and 13 Second Team players. IIAC Tournament Champion Wartburg had a Conference-high six All-Conference players including three on the First Team. Regular season Champion Loras had five All-Conference players including three on the First Team. Central and Buena Vista each had four All-Conference players followed by Luther and Simpson with three each.

The complete 2003 IIAC All-Conference Men’s Soccer Team is here.

-30-