#5 Bulldogs Host Michigan State In NCAA Tournament
NCAA FIRST: Butler will play an NCAA
Men’s Soccer Tournament match in the Butler Bowl for the
first time when it hosts Michigan State in the second round of the
2010 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship on Sunday,
Nov. 21. The national tournament match will start at 1 p.m.
(ET) on Butler’s home field. The Bulldogs, boasting a
16-0-3 record, were seeded No. 13 and received a first-round bye in
this year’s tournament. Michigan State (12-7-1)
advanced to the second round with a 2-0 victory over Oakland on
Thursday (Nov. 18). Butler and Michigan State will be meeting
for the second time in NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament
play. The Spartans captured the first meeting, 2-1, at
Indiana in
2001.
Butler is one of two unbeaten teams in the NCAA Division
I.
NATIONAL TOURNAMENT: Butler is playing in
the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year and for the sixth
time overall. The Bulldogs fell to 3-5-1 in all-time NCAA
Tournament play with a 1-0 loss in the second round at Indiana last
year. It was Butler’s first NCAA appearance since 2001,
when the Bulldogs faced Michigan State. Butler has previously
hosted one NCAA Tournament match (vs. Cincinnati in 1998) and two
NCAA Tournament Play-In games (Central Connecticut State in 1995
and Howard in 1998). All three of those matches were played
at Butler’s Varsity Field.
LEAGUE CHAMPION: Butler completed its
Horizon League sweep by downing Green Bay in a Penalty Kick
Shootout, 3-2, in the championship match of the 2010 Horizon League
Men’s Soccer Tournament at the Butler Bowl. Senior
goalkeeper Fabian Knopfler came up with three stops in the Shootout
to lift the Bulldogs to their first league tournament crown since
2001. Butler entered the Horizon League Tournament as the top
seed, after capturing the league regular season crown with an
unbeaten, 7-0-1 record.
ALL-TOURNAMENT: The Bulldogs were
represented by five players on the All-Tournament Team, announced
following the league championship match. Senior Ben
Sippola, the 2010 Horizon League Player of the Year, was
selected as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and he was
joined on the honor squad by teammates Fabian Knopfler, Matt
Hedges, Julian Cardona and Austin Oldham.
POLLING DATA: Butler enters the NCAA
Tournament with a “Top 10” ranking in all of the
national college soccer polls. The Bulldogs are ranked #5 by
both Soccer America and Goal.com, while College Soccer News and
Soccer Times have Butler at No. 6. Butler is seventh in the
Top Drawer Soccer Tournament 48 poll. The Bulldogs continue
to be ranked third in the Great Lakes Region, behind the
nation’s top two teams, Louisville and Akron.
BULLDOG BITS: Butler seniors Conner Burt and
Ben Sippola were named to the 2010 ESPN University Division
Men’s Soccer Academic All-America Team. It was the
second straight year that Burt was selected and the first time for
Sippola...Senior goalkeeper Fabian Knopfler was named Horizon
League Scholar-Athlete of the Month for October. Knopfler, a
marketing major and honor student, was 7-0-1 with three shutouts
during the month...Butler is ranked sixth in the NCAA Division I in
goals against average (0.5), seventh in total goals (41) and eighth
in scoring offense (2.16)...Fabian Knopfler ranks sixth in Division
I in goals against average (0.527). Knopfler leads the
Horizon League in shutouts (8). He stands second on
Butler’s single season list for shutouts, 0.5 behind Alan
Placek (1997)...Senior Ben Sippola leads the Horizon League in
assists (9). He’s tied with Jeff Kurtz (1989) for
fourth place on Butler’s single season assist chart.
