Conaway One of 37 in Div. III Named All-American

College of Wooster senior forward Brian Conaway (Twinsburg, Ohio / Twinsburg) was selected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas All-America Third Team for NCAA Div. III, the capstone of an award-winning career, as announced by the NSCAA Thursday. He will be formally honored by the organization on Saturday, Jan. 21, as part of the 2006 NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia.

Conaway becomes the ninth player in program history to earn All-American status, with former teammate Andrew DeBord being the most recent as a second-team selection in 2004. Prior to that, there had been a 12-year drought of All-American men’s soccer players at Wooster.

This fall, Conaway led the North Coast Athletic Conference in scoring for a second-straight season, producing 1.81 points per game. He tallied 12 goals for the second year in a row and distributed five assists, playing a part in 17 of the team’s 21 scores. Conaway’s goal total and 29 points were league-bests.

The third-team All-America award will be the last in a career that saw Conaway become just the second men’s soccer player in league history to be voted NCAC Player of the Year three times (2002, 2004-05), joining former Scot great Ian Banda, who captured that recognition every season from 1987-90. Conaway also was first-team all-conference all four years, something only two others across the NCAC can claim, and an annual member of the All-Great Lakes Region Team, earning first-team honors in 2002, 2004, and 2005, and second-team in 2003. An all-star in the classroom, too, he was Academic All-District in 2004 (first-team) and in 2005 (third-team).

Statistically, Conaway finished as the third all-time leading scorer in school history with 104 points over 68 matches (1.53 ppg), trailing only Banda (177) and Key Akintunde (139). Conaway booted in 43 goals during his career, also third-best at Wooster, while his 18 assists rank fifth-highest.

Wooster went 9-3-4 (.688) in 2005, but struggled down the stretch, going 0-2-2 to miss out on a spot in the NCAC Tournament for the first time since 2001. Noteworthy, eight of the Scots’ 16 matches were overtime affairs, setting an NCAA Div. III record for the most overtime games in a season.