Butler takes one of its last respites from BIG EAST play Tuesday evening, traveling to SIUE for an 8 p.m. (Eastern, 7 p.m. Central) kick in a rematch of a 2016 NCAA Tournament contest. SIUE will provide a live video stream of the match through the Cougars' web site.
 
Butler enters the contest with a 7-3 record, coming off a 3-0 loss at No. 10 Georgetown Friday in the nation's capital. That was the first BIG EAST loss for the Bulldogs, who were ranked No. 15 in last week's United Soccer Coaches poll. SIUE is 5-6 on the year.
 
SIUE ended the Bulldogs' 2016 campaign in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the teams played to a 0-0 draw through 110 minutes and the match had to be settled on penalty kicks. SIUE advanced by winning on the sixth round of kicks. Butler, the No. 15 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, out-shot SIUE, 22-5, through the 110 minutes, but was unable to find the net.
 
Butler defeated SIUE, 2-0, earlier in the 2016 regular season. During the Paul Snape era at Butler, the two teams also have played in 2015 (SIUE win, 2-1) and 2014 (1-1 draw).
 
The Bulldogs are ranked No. 12 overall in the RPI rankings released by the NCAA Monday, Oct. 9. Butler has wins over four top-80 RPI opponents already this season: Creighton (No. 27), South Florida (No. 28), St. John's (No. 54), and Evansville (No. 76). Upcoming opponents currently ranked in the RPI top 75 include Indiana (No. 10), Xavier (No. 52), and Villanova (No. 75). Butler's three losses on the season are at the hands of Louisville (No. 4 in the RPI), Western Michigan (No. 9), and Georgetown (No. 15).
 
The Bulldogs are ranked No. 20 in both this week's College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer polls. With new polls due Tuesday, Butler is No. 15 in the United Soccer Coaches rankings and No. 11 in the Soccer America poll.
 
Butler and Georgetown are tied atop the BIG EAST standings at 3-1.
 
The Georgetown match was the first match among the Bulldogs' 10 this season that was not a one-goal decision. Butler is also an incredible 4-0 in overtime contests.
 
For his efforts in a 1-0 win over St. John's Sept. 30, Eric Dick was named the BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week for the second consecutive week and the third time this season. He has won the weekly honor in three of the seven weeks this season. The shutout of St. John's was his fourth of the season and the 23^rd solo shutout of his Butler career. Dick is second in the BIG EAST in shutouts (four) and save percentage (0.800), while his goals against average (1.08) is fourth in the league. Dick had posted consecutive shutouts, which includes a four-save clean sheet at Providence Sept. 23. 
 
Butler's three BIG EAST wins have come against the only two teams – Creighton and Providence – picked ahead of Butler in the preseason poll, as well as the only other team that won both of its first two BIG EAST contests (St. John's).
 
Butler's lone goal in the 1-0 win at Providence Sept. 23 came off the foot of Brandon Guhl in the 31^st minute. Guhl leads the BIG EAST with seven goals. His seven goals have come on only 15 shots this season. Guhl ranks in the top 25 nationally with those seven goals and in the top 30 with 16 points. His point total is also second in the conference. These are the first seven collegiate goals for the sophomore transfer from SMU. He has scored in five of the team's 10 matches this season.
 
Lewis Suddick and Isaac Galliford each had an assist on Guhl's goal at Providence. Suddick has five assists on the season, which are second in the BIG EAST. 
 
The Bulldogs trailed 2-0 in the match with Creighton Sept. 16 before two goals from Guhl in the final 15 minutes of regulation tied the contest. Less than three minutes into overtime, sophomore Alex Lehtinen headed in the game-winner off a Suddick corner kick. It was the first goal of Lehtinen's Butler career.
 
With the two goals against Creighton (in addition to an assist on Joel Harvey's game-winner earlier in the week in the 1-0 win over Evansville), Guhl was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week and earned spots on the national teams of the week for College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer Sept. 18. Guhl joined Jared Timmer (Aug. 28) and Suddick (Sept. 4) as Butler players have been selected for the conference's offensive weekly award in three of the seven weeks so far this season. Additionally, Dick has earned weekly goalkeeper honors three times.
 
Butler's seven wins have featured six different Bulldogs with the game-winner (Suddick – twice, Guhl, Lehtinen, Harvey, Timmer, and Kieran Geldenhuys). Butler's 15 goals on the season include seven from Guhl, six game-winners from those other Bulldogs, as well as a goal from Isaac Galliford and a third goal from Suddick.
 
Suddick missed two matches earlier in the season. Butler is 6-2 in Suddick's eight matches. In those six wins, Suddick has scored two game-winners (both on penalty kicks) and assisted on the game-winner in the other four matches.
 
The win over Creighton was a rematch of the 2016 BIG EAST Tournament championship game that Butler won, 2-1, in Indianapolis. The BIG EAST title game win gave the Bulldogs an automatic berth in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, its first appearance since 2010. Butler has advanced to the NCAA Tournament on seven occasions (also 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2009, and 2010). Five of the first six came by earning the automatic berth that came from winning the Midwestern Collegiate Conference/Horizon League Tournament.
 
In addition to Harvey's first career goal in the Evansville match Sept. 12, several other youngsters have been called upon early in the season. Redshirt sophomore Braden Van Allen got the first start of his Butler career against Evansville. The Evansville native began his career at VCU. Redshirt freshman Nathan Edmunds made his first Butler start in the match against Western Michigan Sept. 8, while Ryan Clark, Usman Gil Ivern, and Maurice Thompson III played the first minutes of their Butler career against the Broncos. Nolan Schloneger logged his first minutes of 2017 in the loss at Georgetown after battling through injuries to start the season.
 
Coach Paul Snape has gone deeper onto his bench in recent matches after All-League player Timmer was lost for the season to a leg injury in the team's second match of the season (Aug. 28 at Louisville). Midfielder Marco Charalambous, a starter in 2016, was lost for the season due to a knee injury sustained over the summer. Dick (one match) and Suddick (two matches) have missed time, while sophomore starter Derek Sutton returned to the line-up against Providence after missing three matches dating back to an appearance in the San Francisco match Sept. 3.
 
Galliford, Geldenhuys, Eric Leonard, and Joe Moulden have started all 10 matches for the Bulldogs. Moulden is the only Bulldog to play all 925 minutes so far this season. Both Leonard and Geldenhuys have played all but five minutes. Bennett Kim had started the first seven matches before missing the past three matches with an injury.
 
Suddick, Guhl, and Leonard were named to the All-Tournament Team at the Adidas/IU Credit Forum Classic hosted by Indiana University over Labor Day Weekend. Butler posted a pair of 3-2 wins in Bloomington, defeating South Florida and San Francisco. South Florida was Butler's third consecutive opponent to open the season that made the 2016 NCAA Tournament field.

Leonard, Dick and Timmer are the team's captains for the 2017 campaign.

Entering the contest with SIUE, Snape has a record of 59-43-20. The Butler coaching staff, led by Snape, was named the NSCAA (now referred to as United Soccer Coaches) Great Lakes Region Staff of the Year for Division I institutions in 2016. This honor is a result of a vote by other coaches in the region.
 
The Bulldogs return to conference play Oct. 14, hosting DePaul at the Sellick Bowl. That is the first of three straight home contests that include the in-state battle with nationally-ranked Indiana (Oct. 18) and a BIG EAST contest with Villanova (Oct. 21).