The Bulldogs host Xavier Wednesday afternoon at the Sellick Bowl in Indianapolis in a pivotal match as BIG EAST Tournament berths are on the line. The BIG EAST Digital Network will stream the 2 p.m. contest live on YouTube, Caffeine and Twitter.

The Bulldogs enter the match with a record of 9-6-1 overall, while the Musketeers are 8-7-1 on the season. In BIG EAST play, the two teams are similarly close. Butler is 3-4-1 (10 points) and Xavier is 3-5 (nine points).

The top six teams in the BIG EAST standings qualify for the 2019 BIG EAST Tournament. Georgetown, St. John's and Providence have clinched the top three seeds. Creighton has also clinched one of the remaining three berths. Butler and Xavier join Seton Hall and Marquette as the four teams still in the hunt for the final two tournament berths.

The Bulldogs control their own destiny in that a win would guarantee the Bulldogs a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament. A Butler win paired with a Creighton loss at league-leading Georgetown would give the Bulldogs the No. 4 seed and a home game in the BIG EAST quarterfinals, hosting the tournament's No. 5 seed. The Bulldogs would earn a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament with a tie Wednesday as long as Marquette does not pick up a win over DePaul. One very specific scenario exists where Butler would make the tournament with a Wednesday loss, but that would also require losses from Seton Hall and Marquette in Wednesday contests.

Butler has qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament in four of its six previous seasons as a member of the BIG EAST.

All 10 of the BIG EAST's programs are ranked among the Top 77 spots nationally. Georgetown holds the No. 1 spot, followed by No. 4 St. John's. Butler is the BIG EAST's fourth team in the rankings, coming in at No. 32 this week. 
 
THE SERIES: Butler owns a 13-6-1 record in the all-time series between the two programs. Of its BIG EAST rivals, Butler has faced Xavier the most in a series that dates back to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and Atlantic 10 seasons, as well as the two schools being in close proximity for non-conference match-ups over the years.
 
ONE YEAR AGO: Butler fell in the 2018 season finale by a score of 5-3 at Xavier on Halloween night. All three of the Bulldogs' goals came in the first half before the host Musketeers mounted an offensive rally over the final 45 minutes.

Butler took a 3-2 advantage into the half, and it held for the first 10 minutes of the second half until Samson Sergi completed his hat trick with a match-leveling goal in the 55^th minute. Two goals from Xavier's Felix Boe-Tangen would secure the win for the Musketeers.

Brandon Guhl had one of Butler's three goals.

LAST TIME OUT: Butler dropped a 2-1 decision to Creighton Saturday night in double overtime. The match served as the Bulldogs' final road contest of the 2019 regular season.

Jake Ashford scored the golden goal for Creighton in the 105^th minute, collecting a rebound that ultimately resulted from a corner kick. The game-winner by Ashford was the first goal since the 26^th minute when the Bluejays tied the match on a Yudai Tashiro score.

Butler took an early lead as sophomore Griffin DeBolt scored in the fourth minute of the match to give Butler a 1-0 lead.

OF NOTE:

• Butler is 6-2-1 at home in 2019.
• DeBolt's goal at Creighton was his second of the season and the second of his career.
• Butler keeper Gabriel Gjergji made six saves in the loss at Creighton Saturday night. Gjergji has five shutouts on the season and his 4.31 saves per game are tied for fourth in the BIG EAST.
• Saturday night was Butler's sixth overtime contest of the season, and only one has resulted in a tie. The Bulldogs now have a 3-2-1 record in those games.
• Guhl leads the Bulldogs and is tied for fifth in the BIG EAST with 16 points. Wilmer Cabrera, Jr. is tied for seventh in the BIG EAST with 15 points.
• Guhl's seven goals are tied for fourth in the BIG EAST; Cabrera, Jr., with six, is tied for seventh.
• Guhl now has 27 career goals in his three seasons in a Butler uniform (he spent his freshman campaign at SMU). Those 27 goals are tied for 17^th in the NCAA among active players, and the mark is ninth in Butler program history.
• Jack Haywood is tied for the BIG EAST lead with seven assists. That mark is tied for 30^th nationally.
• Cabrera, Jr.'s four game-winning goals are tied for second in the BIG EAST and tied for 16^th in the NCAA.
• 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.
• Ten Bulldogs have found the net in 2019; 13 have scored points during the campaign.
• 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.