Game Notes (PDF)

Butler takes its final break from BIG EAST play…and it's a big one as top-ranked Indiana visits the Sellick Bowl Wednesday night. The match-up of ranked teams will begin at 7 p.m. and will be streamed through Facebook Live on the ButlerBulldogs page through a partnership with Butler's College of Communication.
 
Butler enters the match with an 8-4 overall record and comes off a 2-0 win over DePaul Saturday night in Indianapolis. That pushed the Bulldogs' BIG EAST mark to 4-1 on the season as Butler is tied with Georgetown atop the conference standings.
 
Tickets for Wednesday's match are $7 (adults) and $4 (youth) if purchased online in advance of gameday. Gameday prices are $10 and $5, respectively. Parking in the main lot of Hinkle Fieldhouse will cost $10. The match is also a "SAAC Hunger" event as Butler's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has identified games where they ask fans to bring non-perishable food items that will be donated to Gleaners Food Bank.
 
Indiana, which has posted shutouts in eight consecutive matches, is ranked No. 1 in the most recent United Soccer Coaches poll. Butler is No. 20 in that poll currently with a new poll coming Tuesday. The Hoosiers are 12-0-2 on the season. This is the second consecutive season that IU and Butler play with the Hoosiers undefeated at this point in the season. Both teams entered the 2016 match-up undefeated.
 
The Bulldogs are ranked No. 21 overall in the RPI rankings released by the NCAA Monday, Oct. 16. Butler has wins over four top-100 RPI opponents already this season: Creighton (No. 25), South Florida (No. 32), Evansville (No. 75), and St. John's (No. 96). Upcoming opponents currently ranked in the RPI top 75 include Indiana (No. 7), Xavier (No. 54), and Villanova (No. 63). Butler's four losses on the season include Louisville (No. 9 in the RPI), Western Michigan (No. 11), and Georgetown (No. 12).
 
The Bulldogs are ranked No. 19 in this week's Top Drawer Soccer poll and No. 22 by College Soccer News.
 
Indiana holds a 22-4-3 record in the all-time series between the two programs, but the teams have been much closer over the past nine meetings. In that span that dates back to the 2009 season, IU has a slim 4-3-2 advantage. Indiana won, 3-2, in overtime in Bloomington last season. The teams played to a draw in both 2015 (2-2 in Indianapolis) and 2014 (0-0 in Bloomington). Butler won the 2013 match-up, 3-2 in double-overtime, in Indianapolis.
 
Each of the past four meetings have included overtime, and the last two have seen teams overcome 2-0 deficits as Butler did in 2015 to earn a 2-2 draw and as Indiana did in 2016 in taking a 3-2 overtime victory.
 
After Butler's first nine matches of the season were decided by a single goal, the last three have not come down to the wire. Butler is coming off a 2-0 win over DePaul Saturday after losses at SIUE (2-0) and at Top 10 Georgetown (3-0).

Butler is also an incredible 4-0 in overtime contests.
 
Keeper Eric Dick has orchestrated shutouts in three of the team's five BIG EAST matches so far this season. He has five shutouts on the season, including a 2-0 win over DePaul in the team's most recent outing. For his efforts, Dick was named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week on Monday, Oct. 16. He has earned the honor in four of the eight weeks this season. His six saves against DePaul were just one shy of his season high.
 
Dick has 24 career shutouts. He has a 1.07 goals against average. His 4.36 saves per game are tied for the BIG EAST lead. His .800 save percentage is second in the conference. He is one of three BIG EAST keepers with five shutouts this season.
 
Three of Butler's four 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 Brandon Guhl scored both goals in Saturday's win over DePaul, giving him a BIG EAST-best nine on the season. Those nine goals and 20 points are tied for the BIG EAST lead and are in the Top 20 nationally. These are the first collegiate goals for the sophomore transfer from SMU. His nine goals have come on only 21 shots this season.
 
Lewis Suddick has five assists on the season, which are fourth in the BIG EAST. Including an assist on Guhl's second goal of the DePaul match, Isaac Galliford has four assists on the season. Suddick was named the No. 84 player nationally in a midseason list authored by Top Drawer Soccer.
 
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. Additionally, Dick has earned weekly goalkeeper honors four times.
 
Butler's eight wins have featured six different Bulldogs with the game-winner (Suddick – twice, Guhl - twice, Lehtinen, Harvey, Timmer, and Kieran Geldenhuys). Butler's 17 goals on the season include nine 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. Butler is 7-2 in Suddick's eight matches. In those seven wins, Suddick has scored two game-winners (both on penalty kicks) and assisted on the game-winner in four of the other five 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.
 
Coach Paul Snape has gone deeper onto his bench this season after All-League player Timmer was lost for the season to a leg injury in the team's second match of the season (Aug. 28 at Louisville). Midfielder Marco Charalambous, a starter in 2016, was lost for the season due to a knee injury sustained over the summer. Sophomore starter Derek Sutton returned to the line-up against Providence after missing three matches dating back to an appearance in the San Francisco match Sept. 3.
 
Geldenhuys, Eric Leonard, and Joe Moulden have started all 12 matches for the Bulldogs. Moulden is the only Bulldog to play all 1,105 minutes so far this season. Both Leonard and Geldenhuys have played all but five minutes.
 
Suddick, Guhl, and Leonard were named to the All-Tournament Team at the Adidas/IU Credit Forum Classic hosted by Indiana University over Labor Day Weekend. Butler posted a pair of 3-2 wins in Bloomington, defeating South Florida and San Francisco. South Florida was Butler's third consecutive opponent to open the season that made the 2016 NCAA Tournament field.

Leonard, Dick and Timmer are the team's captains for the 2017 campaign.

Entering the contest with SIUE, Snape has a record of 60-44-20. 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 second of three straight home contests for the Bulldogs who have a BIG EAST contest with Villanova on Saturday (Oct. 21).