Box Score History almost repeated itself Wednesday night at the Butler Bowl. Two years ago, Butler overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Indiana. This time around, the Bulldogs tied it up but couldn't find the game-winner as the match against the #22 Hoosiers ended a 2-2 tie.
Butler's Vincent Mitchell scored two second-half goals and nearly won the game in the second overtime as a crowd of 4,411 was treated to a brilliant soccer match.
"I'm our toughest critic and our biggest fan, and tonight I was definitely both," said Butler coach Paul Snape. "We were horrible in the first half and we had an unpleasant conversation about that at halftime. But I give our guys credit. They learned at halftime and came out in the second half and responded well. They showed a fighting spirit."
Indiana jumped out to an early lead in the first half. In the 12th minute, Indiana's Andrew Gutman was taken down in the box and the Hoosiers' Femi Hollinger-Janzen converted the resulting penalty kick. Less than three minutes later a cross from Indiana's Tanner Thompson passed through the box with the Bulldogs unable to clear it on two occasions. It landed at the foot of Rece Buckmaster, who found the net.
The momentum began to shift in the closing minutes of the first half as Butler's David Goldsmith created two good looks at the net. With 4:30 to play before intermission, Goldsmith fired a shot from 18 yards out that IU keeper Colin Webb turned away from just inside the right post. Another Goldsmith shot with less than one minute remaining sailed just right.
Out of the locker rooms, Butler stayed on the attack. Mitchell fed Jeff Adkins just six minutes into the second half and he put a good strike on the ball that resulted in a Webb save. Mitchell's first goal came in the 60th minute. Goldsmith fed him the ball and he got behind the defense on the right side, was able to settle the ball and scored from six yards out. The goal ignited the crowd.
With 24 minutes to play, Indiana almost scored an insurance goal off a counter-attack as Hollinger-Janzen blasted a ball from the top of the box that hit the crossbar, ricocheted off Butler keeper Eric Dick and hit the football uprights above soccer goal. The ball would fall into the net creating a moment of confusion before the ball was correctly ruled out of bounds for hitting the football crossbar.
Seven minutes later, Mitchell scored the equalizer. Adkins fed Mitchell, who once again got behind the defense, this time touching the ball to the six-yard box before scoring.
Butler's defense turned away several corner kicks in the closing minutes of regulation to push the game to overtime.
The first overtime was uneventful. After the teams switched ends, Mitchell had the best opportunity of the extra periods, taking a Goldsmith pass, but he pushed the ball just left of the goal trying to get it around IU's Webb, who was charging from the net.
Indiana had 27 shots on the night, including nine on goal. Butler countered with 14 (five on goal). The Hoosiers also held a 13-5 advantage in corner kicks. Eric Dick had seven saves for the Bulldogs. Senior captain Mitch Ostrowski saw his first action of the season Wednesday night, logging 89 minutes coming off an injury.
Butler takes its undefeated record on the road Saturday, traveling to Chicago to face Loyola. The 8 p.m. (ET) kick will include a video feed through Loyola's web site. The Bulldogs return to the Butler Bowl Saturday, Sept. 26 to open BIG EAST play against Villanova.
(Photo courtesy of Jimmy Lafakis.)
