Judson's Burke 2 wins from NAIA record
If everything worked as planned this season, the Judson University men's soccer team would have made longtime head coach Steve Burke the NAIA's all-time winningest men's soccer coach at its homecoming game Saturday afternoon.
A rash of injuries prevented that, but Burke and Eagles got the next best thing. Judson rolled past visiting Bethel 4-0 to earn a homecoming victory and move Burke to within 2 wins of overtaking Rockhurst coach Tony Tocco (437 wins) as the all-time career NAIA wins leader. Judson (5-3) plays its next 4 games on the road, making it a realistic possibility that Saturday's victory was the last time Burke (436 wins) would take the Judson field as No. 2.
"This is a very good game to get under our belts," said Burke, now in his 25th year at Judson. "We're starting to play better. I think were going to have a very good team."
Judson got a huge boost after an unusual rash of hamstring injuries prevented the Eagles from finding their rhythm earlier in the season.
Milos Bajic, who was playing in just his fourth game of the season, scored a hat trick and Stewart Sogge, another hamstring victim, added a goal. Midfielder Steven Drew also made his return to the field after injuring his hamstring in the Eagles' season opener.
"This win was necessary," said Bajic, who had scored 1 goal in his previous 3 games. "It took time for us to get chemistry. It was a really good game for us (to do that). We're finally playing the way we can, the way we should."
After Sogge (unassisted) put in a rebound shot to put the Eagles up 1-0 just 8 minutes into play, Bajic took over. The senior scored 18:34 into the first half after taking a pass from Gustavo Oliveira. The duo hooked up again with 36:35 left in the second half to extend Judson's lead to 3-0.
Petar Bajic found brother Milos with 29:17 left to play to give the Eagles their final margin of victory.
"We played very well," Burke said. "They played flat. They were coming off a big weekend where they played two Top 20 teams."
Bethel (4-6-1) played No. 7 Southern Nazarene to a 0-0 tie, but could not duplicate that success against Judson.
Former Larkin standout Alex Tyton was a big reason why.
Bethel outshot Judson 13-10, but Tyton finished with 9 saves, including 2 very near goals to preserve the shutout. The sophomore held off Bethel's 8 shot attempts in the second half. Bethel goalie Scott Terry made just 2 saves on the afternoon and allowed all 4 goals.
"He comes up well in the air," Burke said of Tyton. "As they put some pressure on, he came up big. Our keeper came up bigger than their keeper."
Women's soccer
Judson 11, Cardinal Stritch 0: Judson University (3-5-1, 1-1) exploded for 11 goals to defeat Cardinal Stritch (0-7, 0-2) in CCAC action at Judson's homecoming game. Lynsey McFarland led Judson with 3 goals and 3 assists while teammate Christina Thornton had a hat trick in the first half. Judson was able to add 6 goals in the second half with 26 shots. Ashley Williams scored a pair of goals, Megan Hamm scored her first collegiate goal and Emma Mugg added her first 2 goals of the season.