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Entering his 24th year at Judson, Steve Burke accomplished a milestone in 2006 as he won his 400th career game. Now, with 416 career wins, he ranks second all-time in the NAIA with wins and is the 21st coach in men’s soccer coaching history at a four-year college or university to win 400 games.

 

Coming off another stellar year, Burke’s Eagles captured their third straight CCAC regular season championship, CCAC tournament championship, NAIA Region VII Championship, and a third trip to the NAIA National Tournament. His team went 17-4-1 and finished with a 7-1-1 CCAC record. Prior to the 2006 season, Burke guided Judson to two perfect seasons in the CCAC in 2004 and 2005. In that run, Judson had a 22-match CCAC win streak that started in the 2003 season came to an end in 2006.

 

Burke consistently has a nationally competitive program and led Judson to its fifth NCCAA National Championship in 2002. That year also saw the Eagles win both a CCAC Regular Season and Tournament Championship. The program claimed both titles for the first time in its history in the CCAC. His teams have won 12 conference championships and four NAIA Regional Championships, while making four trips to the NAIA National Tournament.

 

Under Burke, Judson has become the most prolific team in the history of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) soccer tournament. Since taking the reigns of Judson’s men’s soccer program in 1984, Burke has led the Eagles to five NCCAA National Championships (1991, 1992, 1995, 1997 and 2002) and 11 NCCAA District/Regional Championships. Judson is the only team to win the NCCAA tournament five times. The Eagles have appeared in the NCCAA National Tournament 12 times in Burke’s 23-year stint, including nine straight appearances from 1991-1999.

 

Burke has coached 49 All-Americans and a countless amount of players have gone on to play professionally.

 

Not only have his players received honors, Burke has collected his share of accolades along the way. He has been named NCCAA National Coach of the Year four times, in 1987, 1992, 2003 and 2004. He has received NCCAA District/Regional Coach of the Year honors eight times, NAIA District Coach of the Year in 1990 and 1992, NAIA Area Coach of the Year in 1990 and has been tabbed Conference Coach of the Year five times.

 

Coach Burke was born in Plattsburgh, New York, to Douglas and Esther Burke. Burke’s father, former head soccer coach at Houghton College won three NCCAA National Championships in his tenure.

 

Although known for his work at Judson as head men’s soccer coach, Burke first distinguished himself as a player. He spent his first two years at Wheaton College where he was his team’s Most Valuable Player as a freshman. He then transferred to Houghton College, graduating in 1980 with a degree in education. At Houghton, his team compiled a 34-4-1 record in those two years. He was named the team’s Most Valuable Player both years, and became the school’s first athlete to be named to the NAIA All-American first team. His squad won the NCCAA National Championship in 1979 and Burke was the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He was then inducted into Houghton’s Hall of Honor.

 

Burke taught high school for two years before going on to Ohio State University where he earned his master’s degree in 1984 before coming to Judson University.

 

Diego Cevallos, a 2004 graduate from Judson University, enters his fourth year as the assistant coach for the men’s soccer program. He has been a part of the impressive run the Eagles have put together in the CCAC and NAIA Region VII. During his first year as assistant in 2004, he contributed to the Eagles’ impressive undefeated regular season which claimed a CCAC Tournament Title, a NAIA Regional Tournament Championship, and a trip to the National Tournament where they finished the season with their only loss in the second round to the eventual national champion.

 

Before becoming a coach at Judson, he distinguished himself as a soccer player playing for the Eagles from 2001-2004 where he contributed immensely to the program and helped the team claim its fifth NCCAA National Title in 2002. He graduated from Judson with a bachelor’s degree in Pre-Med.

 

Cevallos learned the game in Costa Rica, his home country, where soccer is a passion of the people and where it is very prestigious to be an accomplished player. He, then, moved to the United States and played high school soccer in Rockford earning a wide variety of awards.

 

For several years now, Cevallos has been involved in the local youth soccer scene and he has become a Premier US Youth Soccer Coach who is highly sought out as a trainer for both individuals and club teams. He is currently part of the coaching staff at Crystal Lake Force for the Elite program.