The Bulldogs return to the Sellick Bowl for a Friday night match, hosting the Broncos of Western Michigan. The match will be streamed through Facebook Live on the Butler Bulldogs page. The stream is done in partnership with Butler's College of Communication.

The match is set for 7 p.m.

Butler enters the contest with a 3-1 record on the season. The Bulldogs are ranked in the Top 25 of all three major polls this week: No. 21 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, No. 15 in the College Soccer News rankings, and No. 18 with Top Drawer Soccer.

The Bulldogs have kept fans on the edge of their seat through the early part of the season as all four of their results have been of the one-goal variety, including two overtime contests.

That was highlighted in weekend play at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic in Bloomington, Ind. In Friday's match against South Florida, the Bulldogs trailed 2-1 before a game-tying goal in the 89^th minute, followed by a penalty kick to win the match, 3-2, in overtime (93^rd minute).

In Sunday's match with San Francisco, the Bulldogs built a 2-0 lead before the Dons had tallies in the 81^st and 83^rd minutes to tie the match. The Bulldogs' score in the 84^th minute proved to be the winner.

Lewis Suddick, Brandon Guhl and Eric Leonard were named to the All-Tournament Team at the weekend event hosted by Indiana University.

Suddick also earned BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week honors after picking up two goals and two assists over the weekend. He scored two goals in Friday's win over South Florida, including the game-winner, and he assisted on Sunday's game-winning goal as Kieran Geldenhuys put home a header off Suddick's corner kick.

Suddick is the second Bulldog to win the weekly honor in the first two weeks of the season as junior Jared Timmer was recognized as the Player of the Week after the first games of the 2017 season. Eric Dick was named Goalkeeper of the Week alongside Timmer's honor.
 
Suddick, an All-BIG EAST preseason team honoree, has seven points on the season (two goals, three assists). Those seven points are second in the BIG EAST.

Guhl took three shots in two matches at the Adidas/IU Credit Forum Classic…and all of them found the net. The SMU transfer registered the first three goals of his Butler and collegiate career. The two goals against San Francisco on Sunday night gave the Bulldogs their 2-0 lead.

Dick has made 16 saves on the season, while allowing five goals (1.23 GAA). His 1-0 win over UIC in the season-opener was the 20^th solo shutout of his Butler career. Dick, along with Timmer and Leonard, is a 2017 captain.

Butler opened the 2017 schedule with three teams – UIC, Louisville and South Florida – that earned NCAA Tournament berths a season ago.

Western Michigan is 3-0-1 on the season and ranked seventh in this week's United Soccer Coaches Great Lakes Region rankings. Butler is at No. 3 in the region, trailing only West Virginia and Georgetown.

Timmer, a 2016 All-BIG EAST first team selection, was lost for the season with a knee and ankle injury suffered in the first half of the Louisville match Aug. 28. Butler will apply for a medical redshirt on his behalf. The Bulldogs are also without midfielder Marco Charalambous, who injured his knee over the summer and will miss the 2017 season.

Eight Bulldogs have started all four matches this season. An addition five players have started at least one match in 2017. Guhl has three starts this season, his first as a Bulldog. Freshman Joel Harvey also received his first collegiate start in the South Florida match over the weekend. Redshirt freshman Nathan Edmunds logged his first minutes as a Bulldog in Sunday's match against San Francisco, entering in a reserve role for 28 minutes and firing two shots.

Coach Paul Snape returns a talented roster in his seventh season in charge of the Butler program. The Bulldogs are coming off their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010 after spending much of the 2016 season ranked in the Top 25 nationally. The season culminated in winning the BIG EAST Tournament and receiving the No. 15 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Butler finished the campaign with a record of 13-5-2.

Entering Friday's contest, Snape has a record of 55-41-20. 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.

Following the match-up with Western Michigan, Butler continues a three-match homestand with Evansville traveling to Indianapolis Tuesday, Sept. 12 followed by the BIG EAST opener against Creighton on Saturday, Sept. 16. The Evansville match will be streamed on Facebook Live, while the Creighton match will be broadcast on the BIG EAST Digital Network as part of the Fox Sports Go app. The Creighton match will also be played at Varsity Field, which is the only match not scheduled for the Sellick Bowl this season.