The Bulldogs travel to the nation's capital for a BIG EAST semifinal contest against the top-seeded Hoyas of Georgetown. The Wednesday kick is schedule for 1 p.m. and will be streamed on the BIG EAST Digital Network via YouTube, Caffeine and Twitter.

Butler is the No. 5 seed in the tournament and is coming off a 1-0 win at fourth-seeded Creighton Saturday night in Omaha. Georgetown earned a bye into the semifinals as the No. 1 seed. Only six of the 10 BIG EAST programs qualified for the postseason tournament. Butler has qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament in five of its seven seasons as a member of the BIG EAST.

The Bulldogs are 11-6-1 on the season, and finished 4-4-1 in BIG EAST play during the regular season. Georgetown claimed the program's sixth BIG EAST Regular Season Championship outright and finished the regular season with a mark of 14-1-2 on the year and 7-0-2 in BIG EAST play. The Hoyas are ranked third in the most recent national coaches poll.

All 10 of the BIG EAST's programs are ranked among the Top 83 spots nationally in this week's NCAA RPI metric. Georgetown holds the No. 2 spot, followed by No. 6 St. John's. Butler is the BIG EAST's fourth team in the rankings, coming in at No. 25 this week. 

ALL-BIG EAST: Wilmer Cabrera, Jr. has been named 2019 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year by the conference's head coaches. The Bulldogs also had four players selected for All-BIG EAST honors as the postseason honors were announced Monday, Nov. 11.

Cabrera, Jr. earned second team All-BIG EAST honors, while seniors Brandon Guhl and Jared Timmer, along with sophomore Jack Haywood, were selected to the third team.

Cabrera, Jr. becomes the second Bulldog to win BIG EAST Freshman of the Year honors, joining David Goldsmith, who earned the recognition in Butler's first season as a member of the conference.

LAST TIME OUT: The Bulldogs came away with a 1-0 win at Creighton Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament. Freshman Wilmer Cabrera, Jr. netted a penalty kick in the 84^th minute, which proved to the difference in the match.

The penalty kick was set up by a foul just outside the top of the 18. On the ensuing free kick, a Creighton defender jumped with an arm extended in an attempt to deflect Jack Haywood's kick.

For Cabrera, Jr., it was his eighth goal of the season, and his sixth game-winner.

Sophomore keeper Gabriel Gjergji made two saves in posting his sixth shutout of the season.

THE SERIES: Butler is 1-6 in the all-time series against Georgetown, with all of the match-ups coming since Butler joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013 season. The Bulldogs' win came in 2016, with Butler taking a 4-2 decision in Indianapolis. The two teams have never met in the BIG EAST Tournament.
 
FIRST TIME AROUND: Third-ranked Georgetown used three second-half goals to pull away from Butler in taking a win Sept. 20 at the Sellick Bowl in Indianapolis. The match served as the BIG EAST opener for both teams.

Butler was able to get into the halftime locker room with the score still 0-0 thanks to three saves from keeper Gabriel Gjergji in the opening 45 minutes. That included a save on Georgetown's Derek Dodson from point blank range in the sixth minute.

The momentum shifted to Georgetown 90 seconds into the second half as Jacob Montes took a feed from Dylan Nealis and wrapped a shot inside the right post for a 1-0 Hoyas lead.

That 1-0 advantage held until the 75^th minute when Zach Riviere fired a shot off a free kick from just outside the box. It found the net for his fourth goal of the season.

The final tally came in the 82^nd minute as Montes found the net once again off nifty passing from Dodson and Paul Rothrock. It was the second goal of the match for Montes and his fourth of the season.

OF NOTE:

• Butler has been part of six overtime contests this season, and only one of those games has ended in a draw. The Bulldogs have a 3-2-1 record in those games.
• Butler is 7-2-1 at home in 2019.
• Butler keeper Gabriel Gjergji has six shutouts on the season and his 4.22 saves per game are sixth in the BIG EAST.
• Brandon Guhl and Wilmer Cabrera, Jr. are tied for the team lead with 19 points. That mark has them also tied for fourth in the BIG EAST.
• With eight goals apiece, both Guhl and Cabrera, Jr. are tied for third in the BIG EAST.
• Guhl now has 28 career goals in his three seasons in a Butler uniform (he spent his freshman campaign at SMU). Those 28 goals are tied for 17^th in the NCAA among active players, and the mark is tied for eighth in Butler program history.
• Jack Haywood is tied for the BIG EAST lead with seven assists. That mark is Top 40 nationally.
• Cabrera, Jr.'s six game-winning goals lead the BIG EAST lead and tied for the most in the NCAA.
• Ten Bulldogs have found the net in 2019; 13 have scored points during the campaign.
• The Oct. 23 loss at Marquette ended a five-match unbeaten streak (4-0-1) for Butler. The Bulldogs had not lost since Sept. 28.
• The Oct. 19 win at Seton Hall was Butler's first four-goal game since a 4-3 (OT) win over Marshall Sept. 26, 2018.
• After scoring the first two goals of his career in the Oct. 4 win over Providence, Brendan Hicks earned BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors Oct. 7.
• The Bulldogs played three consecutive Top 10 opponents earlier this season. That included BIG EAST losses to Georgetown and St. John's, sandwiched around a 2-1 win over (then) No. 5 Indiana.
• Butler limited Wisconsin to only four shots in the win Sept. 12; it marked the fewest shots allowed by Butler since an Oct. 12, 2012 match against Richmond when the Spiders were also held to just four shots.