The Butler women's soccer team will travel to Morehead, Ky. on Thursday (August 22) for their season-opening contest against Morehead State. Game time is set for 7 PM at the MSU Recreation & Wellness Intramural Field.

About the Bulldogs
The Bulldogs open their season poised to make another run at the BIG EAST Championship. Butler finished the 2018 season with a 13-6-1 mark, and claimed conference runner-up fhonors or the second consecutive year.

In exhibition play, the Bulldogs ended both pre-season games in a draw, with 0-0 finals against both Illinois State and Louisville.

Butler faces a tough schedule early on, including match-ups against preseason #16 Wisconsin and Utah, which is receiving votes in the national poll. The Bulldogs look to better their 2018 non-conference record (5-3-0) with a strong start this fall. 

About the Eagles
Morehead State enters 2019 looking to improve on last season's 5-12 record.  The Eagles recovered slightly in conference play, going 4-6, closing out their schedule with a loss to SIU-Edwardsville in the first round of the OVC tournament.

Morehead State returns two 2018 OVC All-Newcomer selections in defender Nicole Palmer and forward Colleen Swift. 

Palmer netted one goal and one assist while appearing in all 19 games last season to anchor the Eagles back line.  Swift tallied three goals and tied the team-high three assists in 2018.  She will fill in the offensive hole left by senior standout and All-OVC first-team selection, Dani Wilson.

The Eagles kicked-off their pre-season schedule with two exhibition games against Marshall and Northern Kentucky.  Morehead fell to Marshall (2-0), and ended in a draw with NKU (1-1).

Series History
This is the first non-exhibition game between the Bulldogs and Eagles in program history. The two teams met for the first time in exhibition play in 2017.  Butler took home the win with a final score of 3-1 in that contest. 

On the Road
While the Bulldogs were undefeated at home in 2018, the team posted 4-6-1 away record. The Eagles were 4-3 in Morehead last season and will look to get off to a strong home turf start on Thursday.

Season Opener History
Since the start of the program in 1991, Butler has posted a 15-11-2 record in regular season openers. The Bulldogs have not dropped an opening contest since 2013, falling to Louisville in a 2-0 decision. Most recently, Butler downed Kent State 3-1 to open the 2018 season on the road.