WELCOME HOME: The Bulldogs open the 2016 home portion of their regular season Tuesday night at the Butler Bowl, hosting crosstown foe IUPUI at 7 p.m. Butler hosted three exhibitions at the Butler Bowl earlier this month, posting wins over Big Ten foes Ohio State and Michigan State, while falling 2-0 to local professional team Indy Eleven of the NASL.
 
BIG WEEK: The BIG EAST Conference announced their first 2016 recipients of their weekly men's soccer awards…and Bulldogs took two of the four honors. Redshirt junior Eric Dick was named Goalkeeper of the Week, while Isaac Galliford earned Freshman of the Week honors.
 
110 STRONG MINUTES: On a hot and humid night in Louisville, Ky., Butler and the host Cardinals played to a 0-0 draw in the 2016 regular season opener for both teams.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: Butler's 2016 roster includes seven players from overseas. All seven got the start Friday at Louisville. David Goldsmith (England), Marco Charalambous (Cyprus), Kieran Geldenhuys (Dubai, UAE), and Joe Moulden (England) started a majority of the contests a season ago. They were joined in the Starting XI by a trio of freshmen in Alex Lehtinen (Finland), Lewis Suddick (England) and Isaac Galliford (England). Galliford had a team-high four shots Friday night.
 
NOT ON MY WATCH: Goalkeeper Eric Dick had 10 saves Friday at Louisville, posting an impressive shutout against one of the ACC's top programs. The total was just off his career-high of 12. Dick and the Bulldogs defense withstood 23 total shots and 11 corner kicks from the host Cardinals.
 
ONE YEAR AGO: David Goldsmith's second goal of the night proved to be the game-winner two minutes into the first overtime period, making the short trek back to 46^th Street a little more fun with a 3-2 win over the host IUPUI Jaguars.
 
THE GOLDEN RETURN: Senior David Goldsmith was unanimously selected to the preseason All-BIG EAST team, as announced by the conference office August 17. Goldsmith has earned Second Team All-BIG EAST honors in each of his first three seasons in Indianapolis. He was a CoSIDA Academic All-American (Third Team) in 2015.
 
LOOKING BACK: The Bulldogs posted an impressive 10-4-4 record a season ago, finishing third in the BIG EAST with a 6-3 conference record. Butler was one of the last six programs in the country last season to register a loss (which didn't come until Oct. 6) after starting the season 6-0-3. Butler did not advance out of the BIG EAST Quarterfinals as Providence moved on to the semifinals in penalty kicks.
 
LOOKING AHEAD: In tight voting by the league's coaches, Butler was selected to finish fifth in the 2016 campaign. Creighton was selected as the preseason favorite, followed by Georgetown, Providence, Xavier, and then the Bulldogs. Providence, Xavier and Butler were only separated by eight points in the poll. Villanova (sixth), Marquette, St. John's, DePaul, and Seton Hall rounded out the 10-team field.
 
CAPTAINS OF THE SHIP: Goldsmith joins classmates Mitch Ostrowski and Charlie Constantino as seniors for the 2016 season. Ostrowski received a medical redshirt in 2015 and returns for a fifth season. The fourth senior on the roster is A.R. Smith.
 
BIG IN THE BIG EAST: Butler returns four players who received postseason BIG EAST honors a season ago. David Goldsmith and goalkeeper Eric Dick earned second team honors, while both Marco Charalambous (unanimous) and Jared Timmer earned All-Newcomer team accolades.
 
GOLDEN GOALS: Despite missing four matches due to injury last season, David Goldsmith finished second on the team in scoring with 23 points (behind Vincent Mitchell, who was drafted in the fourth round of the MLS SuperDraft). Goldsmith tied for the team lead with 11 goals, including three game-winners. The forward finished third nationally in goals per game.
 
WELCOME TO INDY: The Bulldogs add 11 newcomers to the roster for 2016. The group includes three international standouts in Alex Lehtinen (Finland) and England's Lewis Suddick and Isaac Galliford. Six states are represented among the other eight players, including a pair of transfers in Braden Van Allen (VCU) and Wyatt Scott (Hartwick College).
 
NO REST: Eric Dick played every minute (1,702) in goal for the Bulldogs in 2016. He posted a 0.90 goals against average and seven shutouts in the team's 18 matches. Five of his shutouts came in the team's nine BIG EAST matches, as his GAA improved to 0.56, which was second in the conference. He posted a career-high 12 saves in the team's match at Georgetown, which was the highest total in the BIG EAST last season.
 
LEADER OF THE DAWGS: Paul Snape is in his sixth season at the helm of the Butler men's soccer program. Hired in January of 2011, he is the sixth head coach in program history. Snape's career record at Butler is 39-35-19 as he has guided Butler's transition from the Horizon League to the Atlantic 10 and now in the BIG EAST Conference.