Shawn Burke enters his 10th season at the helm of the women’s soccer program after leading the squad to its eighth straight MAC Tournament appearance, second MAC Championship title and second NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022. In his nine seasons at the helm in Buffalo, the Bulls have produced an overall record of 95-50-25, including a 54-25-18 mark in league play. Burke has turned UB into a dominant home team as the Bulls own a 60-11-11 record at UB stadium under his guidance.

Individually, UB has produced 44 All-MAC selections and has placed 20 student-athletes on All-Region squads. Burke has also produced the first four Division 1 All-Americans in program history, in second team selections Marcy Barberic and Emily Kelly and third team honorees Jackie Hall and Hannah Callaghan. UB has also seen seven players awarded MAC Player of the Year during his tenor.

Off the pitch, the Bulls have excelled in the classroom as UB has earned 78 All-MAC Academic selections, 11 MAC Distinguished Scholar Athletes, nine COSIDA/CSC Academic All-District selections, five Scholar All-Region selections and four Academic All-Americans (Jackie Hall, Gurjeena Jandu, Emily Kelly, Leah Wengender).

Burke led Buffalo to a historic season in 2022 as the Bulls claimed its second regular season MAC Championship, second-ever MAC Tournament Championship and second ever NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bulls set a new program record with a 17-game unbeaten streak and recorded 14 shutouts on the season, tied for the most in program history.

For his efforts, Burke was awarded the MAC Coach of the Year after leading his team to a 15-2-4 overall record to go along with a 7-0-4 MAC record. UB finished the historic season with an 11-0-1 home record, tying the 2014 squad for the program record for home wins. He helped the Bulls earn two other specialty awards as freshman Ellie Simmons was named Defensive Player of the Year and fifth year Emily Kelly earned Goalkeeper of the Year honors.

In 2021, Burke guided the Bulls to a 13-4-3 record and their second straight appearance in the MAC Tournament semifinals. UB recorded 34 goals on the year, good for second-best in the Burke era. The Bulls received several individual recognitions, highlighted by Barberic earning a spot on the prestigious MAC Hermann Trophy Award Watch List. Four Bulls earned All-MAC recognition and a trio of Bulls were named to United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region teams. UB placed a program-record 12 student-athletes on the Academic All-MAC team.

Burke navigated the Bulls through an unprecedented 2020 spring season as UB went 6-1-1, including ending the season on a seven-game unbeaten streak. Buffalo scored 17 goals and finished with a final RPI of 37 while recording a 0.63 goals against average and a program-best .813 winning percentage. The Bulls received several individual recognitions including a historic Second Team All-American honor for Marcy Barberic as well as three All-Midwest region selections and a league-best five All-MAC recognitions, highlighted by the Offensive (Barberic) and Defensive (Hannah Callaghan) Players of the Year. UB also placed nine student-athletes on the Academic All-MAC team.

Burke made a lasting imprint on the UB women’s soccer program as he led the squad to a regular season MAC Championship, first-ever MAC Tournament Championship and first-ever NCAA appearance in 2014. The Bulls broke many school records including shutouts in a season (14) and unbeaten streak (14). The defensive-minded Bulls finished the historic season with an 11-0-1 home record, breaking the program record for home wins and recording the first unbeaten home mark since 1995.

For his efforts, Burke was awarded the MAC Coach of the Year award and All-Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year after leading his team to a program-best 16-3-3 overall record to go along with a perfect 9-0-2 MAC record, just the third unbeaten MAC regular season in conference history.

Burke finished the 2014 campaign tied for the NCAA lead in wins (16) for a first-year head coach and he had the highest winning percentage (.833) out of all first-year head coaches in the country. He helped the Bulls earn a sweep in all MAC major awards following the season as UB won Offensive Player of the Year (Katie Roberts), Defensive Player of the Year (Jackie Hall), Freshman of the Year (Laura Dougall) and Coach of the Year (Burke). The 2014 UB Bulls became the first program in MAC history to sweep all four major awards.

Prior to taking over as head coach at Buffalo, Burke served five years as assistant coach, with his tenure highlighted by his first recruiting class in 2011 which helped the Bulls jump 200 spots in the RPI rankings from the previous season, the biggest jump of any team in the country, and resulted in a MAC semifinal appearance.

Burke was a standout player at Mercyhurst College from 1998-2002, winning five straight GLIAC Championships. In 2002, Burke was named Great Lakes Conference Defensive Player of the year. He was also a three-time first-team All-Conference and two-time All-Region player selection. In his final year of play at Mercyhurst, Burke helped lead the Lakers to the Division II Final Four and the school’s first and only #1 national ranking.

Burke graduated from Mercyhurst in 2002 with a degree in elementary education and graduated in May of 2013 with his Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from the University at Buffalo.

He holds a USSF “A” license as well as a US Soccer National Goalkeeping. Burke also holds a National Youth License.

Burke currently resides in Amherst with his wife Taylor, daughter Henley and son Kai.