Judson nails down 4th straight CCAC title

Mark Howlett

The Judson Eagles men's soccer team defeated St. Xavier 1-0 Tuesday in a physical CCAC championship game at Judson. The win gives Judson its fourth straight CCAC championship, something that hasn't been done before.

Judson's goal came at the 33:36 mark in the first half when James Ramano centered a pass from the right side of the goal to Mark Howlett, who scored to give the Eagles (13-4-3) a 1-0 lead over St. Xavier (9-11). The goal proved to be enough for the Eagles' defense to hold the lead the rest of the game.

St. Xavier nearly tied the game early in the second half, but a diving save from freshman goalkeeper Neil Thompson and another amazing save from teammate Andrew Weissman, who covered the open net on a rebound shot, kept the Eagles in front.

"Andrew clearing (the ball) was huge," said JU coach Steve Burke., whose team now advances to the NAIA Region VIII tournament,

"The unfortunate thing was we missed a lot of opportunities (on offense)."

Later in the second half Ramano came in and covered the goal in a similar situation that saved Judson once again. That seemed to be the story all day long, as the defense continued to come up with big plays that allowed Judson to come away with the win.

After a minor celebration and plaque presentation postgame, it didn't seem like the Eagles had just won their fourth straight championship. Instead Burke directed his team to the baseball field to run and discipline his team. Judson was hit with 4 yellow cards in the game that temporarily got out of hand.

St. Xavier's Alex Duncan delivered a brutal head butt to Weissman that sent him to the ground. Duncan was red carded and thrown out of the game and Weissman received his second yellow card and had to leave the game, even though after taking a blow like that his return was questionable.

"When the game gets rough like that, we have to stay cool and keep our heads in the game. There were too many fouls," said Burke. "I want these guys to know we have bigger things than this, like the regional and nationals."