The Bulldogs opened the home portion of the 2015 schedule with a strong showing against #4 Notre Dame in an exhibition Wednesday night at the Butler Bowl. Butler out-shot the Fighting Irish, 18-7, but couldn't find the back of the net, falling 1-0.
"I'm very pleased with this performance," said Butler coach Paul Snape. "We played with good composure. I'd like to see us be a little more technical and take advantage of our scoring chances.
"We grew as a program tonight. There are a lot of positives as we head into our final exhibition this weekend."
Butler put seven of the shots on goal and held an additional 7-3 advantage in corner kicks.
The lone goal of the contest came in the 59th minute as Notre Dame's Patrick Hodan took a pass from Connor Klekota and got to the center of the box, finding the net with his left foot.
In addition to the 90-minute exhibition, the two teams played a 45-minute "reserves" match Wednesday night. Butler pulled out a 1-0 victory in that contest off a goal by Jeff Adkins.
The Bulldogs finish off the exhibition portion of their schedule Sunday at Dayton. The regular season begins August 28 at Wisconsin. That is the first of three road matches to begin the regular season before the Bulldogs return to the Butler Bowl on September 12 to face Drake. However, Butler's road game September 1 is in downtown Indianapolis against IUPUI.
(Photo courtesy of Jimmy Lafakis.)
