The Butler women's soccer team will hit the road for the next two games on the schedule.

The Bulldogs will take on Northern Kentucky in Highland Heights, Ky. on Thursday (August 29) and No. 15 Wisconsin in Madison, Wisc. on Sunday (September 1).

Bulldog Bits
The Bulldogs lead the BIG EAST in multiple categories after one week of play, including: shots, goals, assists, goals allowed, and goals and assists per game.

After helping the Bulldogs to a 2-0 start, Katie Soderstrom and Annika Schmidt were named BIG EAST Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively.

Offensively, the class of 2022 has taken the lead for the Bulldogs. Of the seven goals scored this season, the sophomore class has combined for five of them.

Anja Savich had a two-goal game in the 3-0 win over Morehead State, while Celia Gaynor claimed her first score of the season. In the first home win of the season, Soderstrom tabbed the first goal and the golden goal within a minute of each other. She also has four assists through the first week of play.

Schmidt is holding down the backline for Butler, as the defense has held opponents to just a combined nine shots in two games. Schmidt also scored her first goal of the season in Sunday's win.

About the Opponent: The Norse
Northern Kentucky enters Thursday's match 1-1-0 on the year, after splitting a pair of matches in the first week of play. The Norse defeated Lipscomb 4-0, before falling to Ohio University in a 1-0 decision.

The Norse are coming off a 10-6-1 season, which ended in a first-round loss in the 2018 Horizon League Tournament.

Butler leads 3-0-0 the series history against the Norse. The two teams faced-off last year in the Sellick Bowl, with the Bulldogs taking the 2-0 win.

About the Opponent: The Badgers
After claiming a No. 16 preseason rank, the Wisconsin Badgers started their 2019 campaign with a 1-0 win over University of Central Florida.

Over the weekend, the Badgers took the reigning NCAA Champions and current No. 1 Florida State to overtime, before giving up the golden goal in the 99^th minute. In the new United Soccer Coaches rankings released on Tuesday (August 27), Wisconsin moved up to No. 15 in the Top-25. 

In 2018, the Badgers stretched their schedule deep into November, before falling in the third round of the NCAA Tournament to the No. 1 seeded Stanford.

Senior midfielder Dani Rhodes returns to lead the Badgers offense, netting the only goal so far this season. She was named to the Big Ten Preseason Honors List and is a two-time All-Big Ten second-team honoree (2017 and 2018).

In series history, the Badgers lead 3-0-0.  The last contest between the two teams was in September of 1995, where Wisconsin took the 2-1 win.

Before Sunday's match up, the Badgers will host fellow BIG EAST member Marquette on Thursday (August 29).

A Look Ahead
The Bulldogs will return home for a September 5 contest with Michigan State. Butler will make another road trip north to face Milwaukee on September 8, before coming back to the Sellick bowl to host a pair of home matches against Illinois on September 12 and Kent State on September 15. 

Finally, the Bulldogs will head west to Utah on September 20 for their final non-conference game of the season.