November 5, 2004
Release courtesy of Nick Huber, Buena Vista Univ. sports information director

STORM LAKE, IOWA . . . Familiar faces will collide at this season’s Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) soccer champions. Both of last year’s finalists in both the men’s and women’s brackets were victorious in their semi-final games on Friday afternoon in Storm Lake. Top-seed Wartburg College will face third-seed Loras College in the men’s final on Saturday at 11:00 am. Top-seeded Luther College will battle second-seed Loras College in the women’s final on Sunday at 1:30 pm.

On the men’s side, Wartburg cruised to a 3-0 victory over host school and fifth-seed Buena Vista University. Verne Houston scored the game-winning goal in the 40th minute to propel the Knights to victory. Harrison Kibombo-Lugujjo and Casey Johnson added second-half scores as Wartburg improved to 16-1-2 on the season. Buena Vista ends its season at 8-8-4.

Loras will face Wartburg after downing second-seed Luther 2-1. Matt Ochoa tallied the deciding goal in the 69th minute. The Duhawks’ Nick Sullivan had tied the game at 1-1 in the 35th minute. Luther, which fell to 11-7 with the setback, got its only goal from Jeremiah Reinkoester in the 20th minute to take an early, short-lived lead.

Wartburg and Loras tied in their regular season match 2-2. Last season, the Knights clipped the Duhawks 3-2 in the championship match.

On the women’s side, Luther slipped past fourth-seeded Simpson. Katie Pettigrew scored the game-winner off of a direct kick in the 54th minute. It was the 122nd of her career, which set a new NCAA III record for most goals in a collegiate career. Ann Cary recorded a goal off of a penalty kick to seal the victory for the Norse.

Loras rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to knock off third-seed Wartburg 3-1. Maria Prendergast, Michelle Wieser, and Katie Ryan scored goals for the Duhawks. Kristin Beck tallied the lone score for the Knights.

Luther defeated Loras 4-1 in their regular season game in October. Last season, the Duhawks claimed the Conference AQ after advancing through the Conference Final in penalty kicks.

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