Full Notes (PDF)

GO EAST, YOUNG MEN: Butler opens BIG EAST play, traveling to Villanova Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs are 4-0-1 on the season and ranked in all the national polls. Villanova is 3-2 on the season. The match will be streamed live on BEDN, part of the FOX Sports Go app. Nick Mantegna will handle play-by-play duties, while Cayleigh Griffin will be on the sidelines.
 
IN THE RANKINGS: Butler is ranked in the Top 15 of all four national polls. The Bulldogs are No. 10 in the NSCAA poll, and check in at No. 11 (College Soccer News), No. 14 (TopDrawerSoccer) and No. 15 (SoccerAmerica) in the others. Butler and Creighton are the only BIG EAST teams to be ranked this week.
 
A STRONG WEEK OF WORK: Butler senior David Goldsmith has been selected as the National Player of the Week by three outlets after an impressive weekend of play. The NSCAA, College Soccer News and TopDrawerSoccer each named Goldsmith as their recipient of the national weekly honor. Goldsmith was also named the BIG EAST Player of the Week.
 
THE WEEK THAT WAS: Butler senior forward David Goldsmith had an impressive weekend, leading the Bulldogs to two strong wins. Goldsmith had four goals in two matches as Butler defeated #7 UC Santa Barbara Friday, and followed that up with a win over Oregon State (rv) Sunday. The Bristol, England product had two goals and an assist in the team's 4-2 win over Santa Barbara. He added two goals in the 3-0 win over Oregon State. For the two matches, he combined for 16 shots. 
 
ONE-TIMER; FIRST TIMER: Senior captain Mitch Ostrowski scored the first goal of his Butler career in Friday's win over UC Santa Barbara, putting a one-timer in the goal off a deflected shot. He assisted on one of Goldsmith's goals Sunday, which was his third career assist in his 53 matches as a Bulldog.
 
ON THE OFFENSIVE: Butler leads the BIG EAST in goals per game (2.60) and assists per game (2.80). David Goldsmith and Lewis Suddick are tied for second in the conference in goals with four on the young season. Suddick's 10 points are second in the conference. Goldsmith leads the conference in shots (26, 5.2 per game).
 
ON THE HORIZON: The Bulldogs have already played two teams that are ranked in the weekly polls: UC Santa Barbara comes in at No. 13 in the NSCAA poll, while Louisville's highest ranking is No. 13 in the TopDrawerSoccer poll. The Bulldogs still have three ranked opponents on the upcoming schedule (NSCAA rankings): Indiana (#3), Denver (#8), and Creighton (#14).
 
LAST MEN STANDING: Of the 10 BIG EAST teams, only one has yet to record a loss: Butler. Four BIG EAST teams have one loss, four teams have two losses, and one has five losses. (Loss totals through matches played Tuesday, Sept. 13). 
 
LAST LINE OF DEFENSE: Goalkeeper Eric Dick has orchestrated shutouts in three of Butler's five matches thus far this season, posting a 0.77 goals against average. He has 20 saves on the season, highlighted by 10 saves in the regular season opener at Louisville. The total was just off his career-high of 12.
 
MARATHON MEN: In addition to goalie Eric Dick, defenders Joe Moulden and Mitch Ostrowski have played all 470 minutes so far this season. Kieran Geldenhuys, also a member of the back line, has only been on the sidelines for four minutes. He joins David Goldsmith (six) and Jared Timmer (eight) as members of the team who have been out of matches for less than 10 minutes.
 
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: With 33 career goals entering Saturday's match, senior David Goldsmith is fourth among active players in career goals. Despite missing four matches due to injury last season, Goldsmith finished third nationally in goals per game.???????

FIRST OF MANY: Freshman Isaac Galliford scored the first goal of his Butler career Sept. 3 against SIUE, collecting a blocked shot and putting it by the Cougars keeper. Galliford also had a match-high six shots.
 
ON THE OFFENSIVE: Isaac Galliford (six), Marco Charalambous (five) and David Goldsmith (four) accounted for 15 of Butler's 18 shots against SIUE Sept. 3. Charalambous added a goal in the 89th minute of the match for the final 2-0 score.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: Butler's 2016 roster includes seven players from overseas. Six of the seven have started all five matches. 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). Lehtinen has started six of the seven matches.
 
NOT A BAD HOME DEBUT: Freshman Lewis Suddick scored three goals, posting a hat trick in just his second Butler match (Aug. 30) and leading the Bulldogs to a 4-2 win against IUPUI at the Butler Bowl. Suddick assisted on the fourth goal. For his efforts, Suddick earned a spot on the BIG EAST's five-player Weekly Honor Roll.
 
BIG WEEK: The BIG EAST Conference announced their first 2016 recipients of their weekly men's soccer awards Aug. 29…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. David Goldsmith was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Sept. 12.
 
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. Louisville had 23 shots and 11 corner kicks in the match.
 
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 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.
 
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).