The men’s golf team placed 10th of 15 teams at the Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational Sunday. The event was hosted by Ball State.

The Bulldogs finished with a three-round total of 1144 in the two-day tournament and were led by junior Andrew Wegeng, who shot a 5-over-par total of 215, good enough for sixth place individually.

“We did not play up to our potential at Ball State,” freshman Andrew Eiler said. “We obviously aren’t happy where we finished, but we know what we need to focus on and what we need to do to succeed in conference this week.”

Senior Alex Walker finished tied for 11^th place, thanks in large part to a 4-under-par 66 in the second round.

“Alex has been a very reliable scorer this season and a key part to our success,” Eiler said. “No matter how Alex is playing, you know he is going to make a couple of birdies on the back stretch to finish out.”

Butler finished 54 strokes behind tournament champion Louisville. The Bulldogs were able to top conference opponent Valparaiso, which finished in 13^th place.

Despite the team’s recent struggles, Eiler said he is confident the team has a good chance at placing well in the upcoming Horizon League Championship tournament.

“Our conference is very balanced,” Eiler said. “Anyone can win it, but I feel we have a very good shot at winning. We have the potential to post three very good team scores.”

Butler’s next tournament will be the conference championship event in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. The three-day tournament will start Friday.

The Butler men’s soccer team hosted St. Louis in an exhibition match Sunday and came away with a 4-2 victory.

The Bulldogs took an early lead with first-half goals from freshman Zach Steinberger and sophomore newcomer Nico Oliverio.

“We are usually a team that likes coming from behind, so to get that early lead was crucial,” Steinberger said.

Steinberger added another goal in the second half to push Butler to a 3-0 lead.

The Billikens then tallied two quick goals to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to one.

Oliverio came through again after the St. Louis goals, scoring his second goal of the game and giving Butler a 4-2 lead.

The Bulldogs will continue their spring season with another exhibition match Friday.

This time, Butler will face Michigan State in Fort Wayne.

The Butler women’s golf team tied for sixth place of 15 teams at the Indiana Invitational last weekend.

The event was scheduled to span 54 holes, but thunderstorms forced the officials to shorten the tournament to 18 holes.

The Bulldogs were led by freshman Isabella Lambert, who shot a 4-over-par 76 and finished tied for 11^th place.

“We definitely did not play our best,” senior Michele Nash said. “[Isabella] has definitely been an asset to the team. She is consistent and we can always count her to come in with a good score.”

Nash finished two strokes behind Lambert and a stroke behind senior Clare Cornelius.

“Clare really came through for our team,” Nash said. “She is capable of shooting even lower and we will definitely depend on her mental attitude, motivation as a team leader and experience going into conference.”

Butler’s next tournament will be the Horizon League Championship at Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla., on April 27.

The men’s golf team placed 10th of 16 teams at the two-day Indiana Invitational, which concluded Sunday.

Junior Andrew Wegeng led the team, shooting a 2-over-par 215 to finish tied for 12^th place.

“I think we were too inconsistent,” Wegeng said. “We had some good scores, but we were not able to put three or four good scores together in any of the rounds.”

Wegeng had the lowest score for the Bulldogs on both days of play, ending the first day with a 2-under-par 69.

Wegeng’s performance was not enough to move Butler up the standings, however, as the team ended the first day being in 11^th place.

“It is tough to say exactly where we needed improvement, but overall I think we struggled mainly on the greens,” Wegeng said. “We did not putt nearly well enough to contend.”

The team’s showing at Indiana was a stark contrast to its first place finish in the Big Four tournament at Crooked Stick April 5.

In that event, the Bulldogs swept the top three individual positions, with Wegeng and senior Alex Walker tying for first place overall with a 3-over-par 75. Freshman Andrew Eiler captured third place with a 7-over-par 79.

“I was proud of how I hung in there and shot 75 on a day where I was not hitting it very well,” Wegeng said. “Hitting only two fairways and seven greens in regulation at a difficult course like Crooked Stick usually results in a bad score, but I was able to turn it into a respectable score.”

The Butler women’s golf team also won at Crooked Stick.

Senior Michele Nash finished the tournament in first place, shooting a 1-under-par 71.

“It was nice to shoot under par,” Nash said. “I worked a lot on my putting during the week leading up to the tournament, and it definitely paid off.”

Senior Clare Cornelius, who finished tied for seventh place, said she was pleased with the team’s performance and is looking forward to its next tournament.

“I think we are definitely playing on a level to be successful,” Cornelius said. “We are all competitive players and have a lot of talent on this team. I am very excited and proud of this team for what we have accomplished thus far, and I believe we can continue that success for the rest of the season.”

The men’s team will compete next in the Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational on April 21 in Muncie.

The women will head to Indiana Saturday for the Indiana Invitational.

The Butler women’s tennis team suffered a 5-2 loss to Saint Louis on Sunday.

Photo by Reid Bruner

The Bulldogs (5-11, 2-1) received victories from sophomore Gabrielle Rubenstein at No. 3 singles and junior Brittany Farmer at No. 4 singles.

The Billikens (9-8) swept the remainder of the singles matches and took two of three doubles matches.

On Saturday, Butler grabbed its second win in Horizon League play this season, defeating Detroit 5-2.

The Bulldogs received wins in the top two and bottom two singles matches. The team also won two of three doubles matches against the Titans (4-9, 1-2).

Senior Cam Thompson and sophomores Caroline Hedrick, Stephanie McLoughlin and Angelina Qin had singles wins for Butler.

The Bulldogs will continue their season Saturday at Wright State.

Photo by Reid Bruner

Three women were named Women of Distinction at Butler University on March 29 in the Diversity Center.

Katie Ceranski, a senior marketing and integrated communications major; Sarah Barnes Diaz, the health education and outreach programs coordinator; and College of Education Dean Ena Shelley were all named Women of Distinction.

The criteria for being nominated are that the woman is an outstanding leader, reaches out to others, creates a vision and pushes others to reach it, has a defined role for herself, faces challenges head on, carries herself with dignity and pride and is a serious woman who rules her life with energy, integrity and love.

Student: Katie Ceranski

Ceranski, who is president of Amnesty International on campus, said the award means a lot to her. Ceranski said she tries to stand up for women’s rights on campus.

“The best way I promote (women’s rights) is through making sure (women) are heard and are encouraged to run for leadership positions,” Ceranski said. “The award not only means supporting women’s rights but being a woman leader and speaking for women on campus.”

Staff: Sarah Barnes Diaz

Diaz said she helps women on campus through mentoring in Peers Advocating Wellness for Students. A couple students whom Diaz mentors in the program nominated her for the award.

“I feel so honored,” Diaz said. “I tend to work with a lot of female students, and I look for opportunities to promote women’s well-being. The best ways to promote women’s rights are through education and relationship building.”

Ultimately, Diaz said she believes the award can serve to encourage women to reach their fullest potential.

“I think that it is important to recognize women, because I think it encourages us to work a little bit harder to work to be (a woman of distinction),” Diaz said. “To me being a woman of distinction is about respecting others and having grace and poise.”

Faculty: Ena Shelley

Shelley said she hopes to encourage other women to reach their full potential.

“I promote feminism through trying to empower women around me to see how capable they are,” Shelley said. “I think it is important to take the time to reflect inside ourselves, because that is where the power is.”

Shelley said the award makes her reflect on how she lives her life.

“For me (the award) means trying to model how you balance your work, life and career,” Shelley said. “It is just about being thoughtful that you represent many women.”

Shelley said she tries to encourage women to do this by empowering them.

“I usually try to put women in situations where I think they can solve problems quickly and stay focused,” Shelley said. “Sometimes I jokingly wonder how much different the university would be if it were run by women.”

The women’s golf team placed first of six teams in the Butler Spring Invitational while the men placed seventh out of 10 teams in the event.

The women’s team finished 32 strokes ahead of second-place Evansville to grab the top spot.

Senior Michele Nash led the women in the second round, shooting a six over par 77.

Photo courtesy of Butler Sports Information

“I am happy with the result, but I just wish my scores were a bit lower,” Nash said. “I was a little disappointed with my score, because I always try to shoot around par.”

Nash also led the team in the first round. She and junior teammate Julia Porter both shot a 76.

“We are going to have to work on playing our short game,” Nash said. “We also have to work on not getting down on ourselves mentally. Conference is coming up, so now is the time to start working on picking ourselves up and trying to recover.”

Senior Clare Cornelius, who shot an 84 in both rounds, also expressed disappointment in the team’s scores despite the victory.

“I think we had a decent round of scores, but we could have done better,” Cornelius said. “I think we just need to stay focused in practice and support everyone because everyone’s scores are put together, and one shot can make a difference.”

Nash said the Bulldogs need to improve their play prior to their next tournament on April 5.

“My expectations were to win today because we have played some of these teams throughout the season,” Nash said. “The result was a win, but looking forward to the [Big Four tournament], if we do the same as we did today, we will not do as well.

“The courses are just going to be harder as we go forward.”

On the men’s side, junior Matt Vitale said he was also disappointed with his team’s performance after the Bulldogs dropped from second place in the first round to a seventh-place finish overall.

The men recorded a team score of 299 in the opening round and sat 10 strokes behind leader Dayton.

However, the Bulldogs had the eighth-worst team score on the second day of play, putting them 18 strokes behind tournament-winning Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis at the end of the tournament.

“We definitely struggled a bit considering our position going into the second round,” Vitale said. “The conditions of the course were harder today, but the main story is how we performed, and we did not perform how we should have.”

Junior Andrew Wegeng, who shot a seven over par 79 in the second round, said the team needs to work on being consistent.

“All of us have different things that we are focusing on, but overall, we are just trying to get more consistent,” Wegeng said. “That is what we struggled with in the fall season.”

Butler was able to best Evansville, Robert Morris and South Dakota in spite of second-round struggles.

“This [tournament] is just one blip on the radar,” Vitale said. “I think we just need to get outside as much as we can.

“We had good play in Florida last week, so one bad week will not get us down.”

The next competition for both teams will be the Big Four tournament next Thursday in Carmel.

The Butler softball team placed second at the Woo Pig Classic on Sunday after a 6-5 loss to host Arkansas in the championship game.

The Bulldogs (3-5) sent the game into extra innings with a run in the top of the seventh inning and took the lead, 5-3, in the top of the eighth inning after a two-run home run by senior catcher Mallory Winters.

But the Razorbacks (16-2) staged a comeback in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring three runs to defeat the Bulldogs.

“We felt we played well in the last game of the tournament, but we aren’t satisfied with placing second,” sophomore infielder Krista Hakola said. “We know we have the potential to do better so we want to continue working hard to get better and use this as a learning experience.”

Butler’s second victory of the tournament was a 3-0 win over Drake (6-11) earlier in the day.

Butler senior Breanna Fisher and sophomore Leah Bry combined to pitch a three-hit shutout in the contest.

“We worked on keeping up our intensity and focus throughout games and maintaining pressure on the other teams so as to not let them think they had a chance to make a comeback against us,” Hakola said.

The Bulldogs lost to Arkansas 3-1 in their second game of the tournament after Razorbacks’ sophomore infielder Chloe Oprzedeck hit a walk-off home run.

The Bulldogs started the Classic with a 5-1 win against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis on Saturday.

“We won our first game but definitely came out knowing we had areas to improve on,” Hakola said. “We knew we had to keep the intensity we had in the first couple innings throughout the entire game and not let up.”

The Bulldogs will continue their season in the Bayer CropScience Classic Friday through Sunday. They will face off against San Diego State, Oregon, California and host Fresno State in the event.

The Butler women’s basketball team suffered a 78-53 loss at #12 Green Bay (25-1, 15-1) on Saturday.

The Bulldogs (12-15, 8-8) were led by sophomore guard Mandy McDivitt, who recorded 12 points in the game. Sophomore guard Jenna Cobb added nine points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals for Butler.

“I gave it my best effort, but there is always room for improvement in a lot of areas,” Cobb said. “ We just tried working to spread the offense and on defense we wanted to force them to shoot more 3-pointers.”

The Bulldogs ended the game with 32.7 percent shooting and 34 rebounds to Green Bay’s 55.7 percent shooting and 38 rebounds.

“We just need to work on executing on offense and knowing where people are on the floor to help our shooting,” Cobb said.

The team also lost at Wisconsin-Milwaukee (9-18, 5-11) 54-52 in a close matchup.

Both Cobb and freshman guard Hannah Douglas scored 11 points in the loss.

“[Douglas] has helped our team so much this season, especially coming in as a freshman,” Cobb said. “The best part of her game is her pull up jumper. When she has it, no one can stop her.”

The team will return to Hinkle Fieldhouse tomorrow to take on Detroit at 7 p.m.

The Butler women’s tennis team lost a close 4-3 home match against Grand Valley State (15-5) on Sunday.

Sophomores Stephanie McLoughlin and Gabrielle Rubenstein led the Bulldogs (2-6) in against the Lakers (15-5).

McLoughlin captured a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Grand Valley State sophomore Niki Shipman.

At No. 2 singles, Rubenstein defeated freshman Leah Dancz 6-0, 6-3 to give Butler another point.

The pair also teamed up to win a No. 1 doubles match against seniors Tara Hayes and Alyssa Lucas 8-1.

Photo by Marcy Thornsberry

“In doubles, Gabrielle and I have been playing solid tennis lately,” McLoughlin said. “I thought we moved very well and closed the net very effectively, which allowed us to get the win.”

The Bulldogs also lost 5-2 at Evansville on Friday.

The Purple Aces (6-3) won two doubles matches and four singles matches against Butler.

Butler sophomore Angelina Qin led the Bulldogs by winning in straight sets at No. 5 singles.

“We are playing solid and competing hard with some quality teams,” Qin said. “Our losses are only helping us prepare for later matches so that we can win.”

The Bulldogs will continue their season today when they host Ball State at 3 p.m.