Butler celebrates the program's five seniors Saturday night, leading into a BIG EAST contest against Villanova. The match-up will begin at 7 p.m. and will air on the BIG EAST Digital Network, part of the FOX Sports Go app.

Seniors Eric Dick, Bennett Kim, Eric Leonard, Wyatt Scott, and Nolan Schloneger will be recognized in a pregame ceremony.
 
Butler enters the match with an 8-4-1 overall record and comes off a 0-0 tie against No. 1 Indiana on Wednesday night. The match was played in front of 6,105 fans, the largest crowd in Butler men's soccer history and the biggest gathering since the Sellick Bowl was renovated in 2010. The previous record was 5,029 for the 2013 match against Indiana.

The Bulldogs' BIG EAST mark is 4-1 on the season as Butler is tied with Georgetown atop the conference standings. Butler defeated DePaul, 2-0, in its most recent BIG EAST contest.

The double-overtime result against the top-ranked Hoosiers was the Bulldogs' first tie of the season as they had previously won all four of their overtime contests. Indiana is now 12-0-3.

It was the fifth straight match-up between the in-state rivals to go to overtime.

The Bulldogs played without center back Joe Moulden, who sat out the match after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the win over DePaul. Coach Paul Snape only played 12 Bulldogs, 10 of which went the 110-minute distance.

The rivalry against Villanova dates back to Butler joining the BIG EAST prior to the 2013 season. Butler holds a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series, including a pair of wins last season. David Goldsmith had the game-winner in extra time in both contests: a 3-2 overtime win in Philadelphia followed by a 1-0 double-overtime victory in the BIG EAST semifinal played in Indianapolis. Butler is 3-0 in matches in Indianapolis.

Butler is 5-1-1 at the Sellick Bowl in 2017.
 
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 (in addition to the tie against No. 1 Indiana): 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 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. Butler is receiving votes in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll.
 
The match against Indiana was redshirt senior Dick's sixth shutout of the season. He made one save in doing so. Each team took eight shots.
Dick has orchestrated shutouts in three of the team's five BIG EAST matches so far this 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 25 career shutouts. He has a 0.96 goals against average. His 4.08 saves per game are second in the BIG EAST. His .803 save percentage is third in the conference. He is one of two BIG EAST keepers with six 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 the 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 30 nationally. These are the first collegiate goals for the sophomore transfer from SMU. His nine goals have come on only 23 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 7-2-1 in Suddick's 10 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.
 
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.
 
With Moulden missing the IU match, Geldenhuys and Leonard are the only Bulldogs to start all 13 matches for the Bulldogs. Both Leonard and Geldenhuys have played all but five minutes this season. Moulden has played every minute other than the IU match.

Entering the contest with SIUE, Snape has a record of 60-44-21. 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.
 
Following the Villanova match, Butler finishes the regular season with three BIG EAST match-ups. The Bulldogs are at Seton Hall Wednesday, Oct. 25 and at Marquette Saturday, Oct. 28. The regular season finale is a home game against Xavier Nov. 1.