Judson men headed to NAIA nationals

Exploding for three goals in the second half, No. 2 seeded Judson University men's soccer team won its fourth straight NAIA Region VII championship, 4-1, over to-seeded seeded St. Ambrose Tuesday in Burlington, Iowa.

Gustavo Oliveira recorded 2 of the 3 goals in the second half to spur JU to the victory.

Judson (15-4-3) now advances to the NAIA National Tournament in Olathe, Kans., Nov. 14-20.

Mark Howlett put Judson on the board first in the 27th minute when Oliveira sailed a free kick into the box from 40 yards out. Howlett took the ball on the left side of the goal and pushed it in for the 1-0 advantage. The lead did not last long as St. Ambrose's Kendrick Tyson found the net in the 33rd minute off a breakaway to tie the game at one.

With the game tied at one, the second half had the chance of going either way. In the first 10 minutes of the half, SAU (15-6-2) had three shots on goal but JU's Neil Thompson saved all three shots to conserve the tie.

After the third save in the 55th minute, JU's Oliveira blocked a St. Ambrose kick out of the box, took the ball by himself, and then beat the goalie to break the tie. Again, in the next 10 minutes, SAU had its chance to tie the game as it took three shots. Two of them were saved by JU's Thompson with one sailing wide left.

After Thompson saved another SAU kick, Oliveira came through with his second goal of the match in the 70th minute. He took the ball by himself, again, at the top of the box and dribbled around defenders and then sailed the shot from1 2-yards out for a 3-1 lead.

Howlett recorded his 16th goal of the 2007 season in the 77th minute when Jimmy Romano found him on a breakaway from the right side of the field Howlett took the ball and then coasted a shot in from 18-yards out to seal the victory.

JU's Thompson had 8 saves on the game and faced 24 shots with nine on goal.