After a one-match break from BIG EAST play, Butler returns to the conference slate Saturday night, hosting DePaul at the Sellick Bowl. The 7 p.m. match will be aired live on the BIG EAST Digital Network, part of the FOX Sports Go app.
 
Butler enters the contest with a 7-4 overall record, looking to turn around a two-match losing streak after losses at No. 10 Georgetown Oct. 6 in the nation's capital and at SIUE on Tuesday night.
 
The Bulldogs are ranked No. 12 overall in the RPI rankings released by the NCAA Monday, Oct. 9. Butler has wins over four top-80 RPI opponents already this season: Creighton (No. 27), South Florida (No. 28), St. John's (No. 54), and Evansville (No. 76). Upcoming opponents currently ranked in the RPI top 75 include Indiana (No. 10), Xavier (No. 52), and Villanova (No. 75). Butler's four losses on the season include Louisville (No. 4 in the RPI), Western Michigan (No. 9), and Georgetown (No. 15).
 
The Bulldogs are ranked No. 20 in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll. They are in the Top 20 of all national polls this week, including Soccer America (No. 16), Top Drawer Soccer (No. 18), and College Soccer News (No. 20).
 
Butler and Georgetown are tied atop the BIG EAST standings at 3-1. DePaul is 1-2-1 in league play and 4-7-1 overall after a 2-0 loss at the hands of Northwestern Wednesday night.
 
Butler and DePaul will meet for just the ninth time in series history. Butler owns a 4-2-2 record against DePaul, but the Blue Demons have two wins since Butler joined the BIG EAST in 2013. Butler won 2-0 at home in 2013 and the teams played to a 0-0 tie in Chicago in 2014. DePaul registered 1-0 wins in both 2015 and 2016. DePaul's win in Chicago last season came in the 110^th minute as Zach El-Shafei put home the rebound off a free kick for the game-winner.
 
The Bulldogs enter Saturday's match not only on a two-match losing streak, but they have been shut out in both contests. Butler's only other shutout loss this season came at (then) No. 9 Louisville in the second match of the season. Tuesday night's 2-0 loss at SIUE was a rematch of the 2016 NCAA Tournament contest between the teams. In that NCAA Tournament match, the teams played to a 0-0 draw through 110 minutes and the match had to be settled on penalty kicks. SIUE advanced by winning on the sixth round of kicks.
 
The Georgetown and SIUE matches are the first this season for the Bulldogs that were not a one-goal decision. Butler is also an incredible 4-0 in overtime contests.
 
For his efforts in a 1-0 win over St. John's Sept. 30, Eric Dick was named the BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week for the second consecutive week and the third time this season. He has won the weekly honor in three of the seven weeks this season. The shutout of St. John's was his fourth of the season and the 23^rd solo shutout of his Butler career. Dick is second in the BIG EAST in shutouts (four) and save percentage (0.778), while his goals against average (1.17) is fifth in the league. Dick had posted consecutive shutouts, which included a four-save clean sheet at Providence Sept. 23. 
 
Butler's three BIG EAST wins have come against the only two teams – Creighton and Providence – picked ahead of Butler in the preseason poll, as well as the only other team that won both of its first two BIG EAST contests (St. John's).
 
Butler's lone goal in the 1-0 win at Providence Sept. 23 came off the foot of Brandon Guhl in the 31^st minute. Guhl is tied for the BIG EAST lead with seven goals. His seven goals have come on only 18 shots this season. Guhl ranks in the top 30 nationally with those seven goals and in the top 40 with 16 points. His point total is also second in the conference. These are the first seven collegiate goals for the sophomore transfer from SMU.
 
Lewis Suddick and Isaac Galliford each had an assist on Guhl's goal at Providence. Suddick has five assists on the season, which are second in the BIG EAST. 
 
The Bulldogs trailed 2-0 in the match with Creighton Sept. 16 before two goals from Guhl in the final 15 minutes of regulation tied the contest. Less than three minutes into overtime, sophomore Alex Lehtinen headed in the game-winner off a Suddick corner kick. It was the first goal of Lehtinen's Butler career.
 
With the two goals against Creighton (in addition to an assist on Joel Harvey's game-winner earlier in the week in the 1-0 win over Evansville), Guhl was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week and earned spots on the national teams of the week for College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer Sept. 18. Guhl joined Jared Timmer (Aug. 28) and Suddick (Sept. 4) as Butler players have been selected for the conference's offensive weekly award in three of the seven weeks so far this season. Additionally, Dick has earned weekly goalkeeper honors three times.
 
Butler's seven wins have featured six different Bulldogs with the game-winner (Suddick – twice, Guhl, Lehtinen, Harvey, Timmer, and Kieran Geldenhuys). Butler's 15 goals on the season include seven from Guhl, six game-winners from those other Bulldogs, as well as a goal from Isaac Galliford and a third goal from Suddick.
 
Suddick has missed three matches on the season (both he and Galliford sat out the SIUE match). Butler is 6-2 in Suddick's eight matches. In those six wins, Suddick has scored two game-winners (both on penalty kicks) and assisted on the game-winner in the other four matches.
 
The win over Creighton was a rematch of the 2016 BIG EAST Tournament championship game that Butler won, 2-1, in Indianapolis. The BIG EAST title game win gave the Bulldogs an automatic berth in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, its first appearance since 2010. Butler has advanced to the NCAA Tournament on seven occasions (also 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2009, and 2010). Five of the first six came by earning the automatic berth that came from winning the Midwestern Collegiate Conference/Horizon League Tournament.
 
Geldenhuys, Eric Leonard, and Joe Moulden have started all 11 matches for the Bulldogs. Moulden is the only Bulldog to play all 1,015 minutes so far this season. Both Leonard and Geldenhuys have played all but five minutes. Bennett Kim had started the first seven matches before missing the past three matches with an injury.
 
Leonard, Dick and Timmer are the team's captains for the 2017 campaign.

Entering the contest with SIUE, Snape has a record of 59-44-20. The Butler coaching staff, led by Snape, was named the NSCAA (now referred to as United Soccer Coaches) Great Lakes Region Staff of the Year for Division I institutions in 2016. This honor is a result of a vote by other coaches in the region.
 
That is the first of three straight home contests that include the in-state battle with nationally-ranked Indiana (Oct. 18) and a BIG EAST contest with Villanova (Oct. 21).