Spring has arrived on campus, but that does not mean the school’s fall athletic teams are resting easy.

The Butler men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball teams are currently participating in spring seasons even though their regular seasons are still months away.

The men’s and women’s soccer teams are both in the middle of month-long exhibition seasons that run from late March to the end of April.

The men’s squad took on Oakland last Saturday and has four games remaining this spring. The women’s team has already faced three teams and will take on Indiana on April 21.

Men’s soccer coach Paul Snape said playing games against other schools in the offseason gives players a chance to face off against different competitors.

“The problem is when you play against each other, you can get stale,” Snape said, “so playing other teams is a great opportunity to stay fresh.”

Junior forward Katie Griswold, a member of the women’s soccer team, said spring games help the team plan strategy for the fall season.

“[Spring games] let our coaches see what we need to work on, what will best suit the team and which formations will fit our team best,” Griswold said.

The volleyball team has matches scheduled on each of the first three Saturdays in April.

Junior outside hitter Rachel Barber said that the younger members of the team take advantage of the spring season.

“(The spring season) benefits the younger players the most,” Barber said. “It’s about getting comfortable with each other and allowing the coaches to develop players.”

The football team may not have games scheduled for the offseason, but coach Jeff Voris has 14 practices planned between March 23 and April 20.

The practices will culminate in the annual Blue-White Spring Game on April 21.

Sophomore running back Trae Heeter said that the squad focuses on re-implementing the team’s formations.

It also gives younger players time to impress the coaching staff.

“In the spring, we re-install either our offensive schemes or our defensive schemes,” Heeter said. “It’s basically a time for the guys that have been here to continue to work on their skills and for the freshmen and sophomores to go out there and show the coaches what they can do.”

Despite a career-best eight saves from sophomore goalkeeper Julie Burton and a stonewall defense, the Butler women’s soccer team saw its season come to an end with a 1-0 loss to No. 15 Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the semifinals of the Horizon League Soccer Championships.

“We played extremely well,” sophomore Ali Backscheider said. “It didn’t work out in our favor, but we’re happy with how we played.”

Milwaukee junior midfielder Helen Steinhauser scored the lone goal of the match in the 35th minute, and it was enough to let the Panthers (18-2-0, 8-0-0) slip by with the win.

On the goal-scoring play, freshman midfielder Kelsey Holbert ran the ball into the box and then found Steinhauser at the near post. Steinhauser took advantage, finding the back of the net with a one-touch shot.

The Bulldogs (8-10-2, 3-5-0) shut down the Panthers’ attack in the second half but were not able to generate an effective offensive effort.

Photo by Maria Porter

By the end of the match, Milwaukee held a 17-6 advantage in shots and had seven corner kicks to Butler’s one.

Freshman forward Elise Kotsakis recorded Butler’s lone shot on goal.

“We have to score to win, and we didn’t score,” Backscheider said.

Despite the loss, the Bulldogs were able to silence Milwaukee All-American forward Sarah Hagen throughout the match. Hagen is second in the nation with 24 goals.

“We shut her down and took her out of the game,” junior forward Katie Griswold said. “[Sophomore midfielder] Anna [Ventimiglia] completely dominated her.”

The Bulldogs also had three fewer fouls and seven more saves than the Panthers.

With the season over, the Bulldogs already are looking forward to next fall.

“We played really well with just one senior, and that just shows what kind of team we’re going to have next year,” Griswold said.

In a game for Butler’s history books, the women’s soccer team came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Valparaiso and move on in the Horizon League tournament.

The game, played Tuesday in Valparaiso, featured 20 minutes of extra play and eight rounds of penalty kicks.

In the first 40 minutes, offense was the theme of the game, with all four goals coming in the first half.

Junior Rachel Scott scored on a rebound off a shot by fellow junior Katie Griswold, and sophomore Olivia Colosimo scored on a free kick.

After a defensive second half that featured several saves from Bulldog goalkeeper Julie Burton, the game went to overtime.

After no offensive action in two overtimes, the game went to a shootout, which Butler won by a count of 5-4.

Valparaiso had two opportunities to win in PKs, but both were shut down.

The match featured 37 shots and 37 fouls between the two teams.

Burton had seven saves in the marathon of a match.

Bundled-up fans came out to the Butler Bowl on Oct. 28 for the team’s last conference match against Loyola.

They watched the Bulldogs (8-9-1, 3-5) work to come back from a 2-0 first- half deficit.

In the 10th minute, Rambler freshman defenseman Valerie Gonyo headed a Loyola free kick into the net to put them up 1-0.

“You fall behind early, the game changes, and you have to chase it a little bit,” Butler coach Tari St. John said.

Loyola tallied another goal just less than 28 minutes later when junior forward Ana Michelini broke away on a run and chipped the ball over Burton.

“We put the effort in, we were connected, and I think we played really well with each other,” freshman foward Elise Kotsakis said. “We just couldn’t get it in the back of the net.”

Kotsakis, who had a career-high nine shots during the match, changed that in the 74th minute, scoring the only goal of the second half.

The goal-scoring play started with a pass from  Griswold to Kotsakis, who buried the ball in the net from 12 yards out.

Butler’s offense could not find the net again, and the Bulldogs finished the regular season with a sub-.500 record.

By the end of the match, Butler had outshot Loyola 18-8 and had eight shots on goal to the Ramblers’ six.

“We always like to win just for pride,” Burton said. “I think it’s good that we can come back from two goals and make those changes.”

The Bulldogs next play on Nov. 4 against Horizon League regular-season champion Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the semifinal round of the conference tournament.

The Panthers (16-2-0, 8-0-0) defeated the Bulldogs 4-1 in a match earlier this season.

In a game that was critical to conference standing, the Butler women’s soccer team got a crucial 2-0 win against Horizon League foe Wisconsin-Green Bay on Sunday.

With the win, the Bulldogs (8-8-1, 3-4-0) clinched, at worst, a sixth-place finish in the Horizon League, which guarantees them a spot in the league tournament.

“We’re good enough to be in the tournament,” freshman forward Stephanie Kaylor said.  “We shouldn’t have ended our season without being in it, and we‘re relieved to have clinched a spot.”

As they have done often this season, the Bulldogs came out as the aggressors against the Phoenix (3-10-4, 1-4-2). The team’s offensive pressure would be rewarded in the match’s 19th minute.

The goal-scoring play started when Kaylor fired the ball into the box.

Photo by Maria Porter

Phoenix senior goalkeeper Maddie Drusch attempted to break up the play, but the ball deflected off her hands and into the goal to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs and Phoenix played an evenly-matched contest for the rest of the half and took the 1-0 lead going into halftime.

The Bulldogs outshot Green Bay 7-6 in the first half and tallied five corner kicks.

“We played really well from the beginning,” junior forward Katie Griswold said.  “Our team really played as a unit.”

The second half would see no letdown from Butler, as the Bulldogs took only six minutes to notch their second goal of the match.

This time, Griswold drew a foul in the box and received a penalty kick.

“I got a pass from someone and beat a player, and a girl just took me out,” Griswold said.  “It’s really nerve-wracking when you go up there, but I never make eye contact with the goalkeeper. I just pick a corner and go for it.”

Griswold converted the opportunity, and the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead with 38 minutes remaining.

Butler was able to hold off Green Bay for the remainder of the game and pick up its eighth victory of the season.

Freshman forward Elise Kotsakis led the Bulldogs with three shots, and sophomore goalkeeper Julie Burton had five saves for Butler.

The win got Butler back on track in conference play and broke a three-game losing streak. The third loss in the slide came on Wednesday against Valparaiso.

The Crusaders (8-6-3, 4-2-1) took the decision 1-0 on Wednesday to remain in third place in the Horizon League.

Butler was led by Griswold and junior Rachael Melendez, who each collected five shots.

Burton made four saves for the Bulldogs in the defeat.

The Bulldogs return to action one last time before the conference tournament when they host Loyola under the lights on Friday.

Loyola won their first Horizon League match on Sunday, with  a 1-0 victory over Youngstown State.

The Ramblers (5-10-3, 1-4-2) are battling Cleveland State for the sixth and final spot in the league tournament.

Photo by Maria Porter

Not even chilly conditions could prevent the Butler women’s soccer team from taking down Youngstown State Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs (7-5-1, 2-1-0) triumphed 2-1 over the Penguins (3-6-2, 0-1-1) for their second straight conference win.

“If you score early, that may change the way they are going to play,” Butler head coach Tari St. John said.

Butler flexed its offensive muscles early, scoring five minutes into the game on a 25-yard strike from junior forward Katie Griswold.

The goal was Griswold’s team-leading fifth this season.

After being staked to an early lead, Butler kept up the pressure, both on offense and defense.

The Bulldogs outshot the Penguins 13-1 in the opening half, which ultimately led to another Butler goal.

The strike came from freshman defenseman Kelly Mahoney, who buried the ball in the back of the net off of a corner kick in the 38th minute to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage.

The second goal proved to be valuable insurance for Butler. Youngstown State freshman forward Jade Flory provided a goal for the Penguins in the 63rd minute to pull within one.

The Bulldogs outshot the Penguins 18-5 on the afternoon. Freshman forward Elise Kotsakis led the way with five shots.

“The game had a lot of variables like the bad weather and a different field than what we are used to,” Kotsakis said.  “The one thing we did was make sure we played a 90 minute game and kept our lead.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Julie Burton got her fourth start of the season in net for the Bulldogs and notched her third win of the season.

Butler also was in action on Thursday when it hosted its second night match in less than a week. This one was against non-conference rival Xavier.

The game went into double overtime and eventually ended in a 2-2 tie, giving the Bulldogs their first draw of the season.

Butler started the game strong, breaking out to a 2-0 lead before halftime.

The Musketeers (6-4-1) were able to pull closer in the second half when senior forward Jessica Brooks scored in the 69th minute.

Xavier then came up with the equalizer late in the contest when junior defenseman Brooke Eberly scored in the 86th minute.

The game would remain deadlocked until the final whistle at the end of the second overtime period.

While the game will go down as a tie, the statistics will show that the Bulldogs were the aggressors, holding a 23-13 advantage in shots.

The Bulldogs will take the pitch again today when they host Cleveland State (7-4-1, 0-2-1)  at 3:30 p.m. for another Horizon League showdown.

The Butler University women’s soccer team still is looking to achieve some consistency after a win on the road against Indiana State and a loss at home against No. 24 Oregon State in overtime.

On Friday, the Bulldogs (2-2) mustered just enough offense to come out on top 1-0 against the Sycamores (1-3).

Strong defense and a goal by freshman forward Elise Kotsakis with 12 minutes remaining led Butler to the victory. The win also gave senior goalkeeper Natalie Galovska her first career shutout.

Kotsakis scored via a header off a well-placed pass from freshman forward Lucy Chauvin into the six-yard box. The Bulldogs’ defense held Indiana State to seven shots, with only one of those being on goal. Butler took 13 shots, with four of them on goal.

On Sunday, the Bulldogs fell to nationally ranked Oregon State 2-1 after a hard-fought match that went into overtime.

Butler got off to a fast start against the Beavers (2-1) with a goal from junior forward Katie Griswold nine minutes into the match.

Griswold received a pass from sophomore midfielder Anna Ventimiglia, dribbled between two defenders and launched a hard shot just inside the left post.

The Bulldogs held the lead until Oregon State senior forward Melinda Ingalls scored at the 34:38 mark. Ingalls’ goal created a tie that was not broken in the second half, thanks in part to Butler’s defense.

“Our backline stuck to the game plan perfectly,” head coach Teri St. John said. “Natalie [Galovska] was so quick off her line. She solves problems before they become problems.”

With the game knotted up 1-1 at the end of regulation, the teams went to overtime. Just over four minutes into the overtime period, Oregon State sophomore midfielder Haley Shaw netted a goal to end the game.

Both teams had 13 shots, with Oregon State only having one more shot on goal (6-5) than Butler. The Bulldogs played a cleaner game than the Beavers, drawing eight fewer fouls.

Although the game ended in a loss, St. John said she was not dismayed by the results.

“Sometimes coaching is about making sure you see beyond the results,” St. John said. “I think we made progress as a team with this loss.”

Butler will welcome Eastern Michigan to the Butler Bowl on Friday at 5:00 pm before traveling to Eastern Illinois on Sunday.

The Bulldogs celebrate after sealing their overtime win against St. Louis. The win has helped turn a four-game losing streak into a two-game winning streak. (Photo by Rachel Senn)

The Butler women’s soccer team heads west this weekend after a week of competition at home.

They will be looking to extend their two-game winning streak that began against Miami (Ohio) earlier this month and continued last Friday against the St. Louis Billikens.

Butler (2-4) captured their second consecutive victory in an overtime win versus the visiting Billikens.

Sophomore Katie Griswold, who recorded a “hat trick” Sept. 3 against Miami, again led the offense of the Bulldogs.

With about three minutes remaining in the first overtime period, Griswold took a pass from sophomore Rachael Melendez and scored the game’s lone goal to secure the win for Butler.

The game’s large amount of physical play was just one factor that the Bulldogs had to deal with Friday.

Bulldog head coach Tari St. John said that her squad did not mind the physicality of the game.

“I think we embraced it,” she said. “We just said, ‘If this is the way the game is going to be called, we will step up and play that way. We’ll push the limits.’”

The inabiility of freshman Jackie Hafele, who has started three games for the Bulldogs, to take the field was compounded by a Bulldog injury during the game.

Butler freshman midfielder Nikki Hafele dribbles around SLU sophomore defender Emily Viviano at the Butler Bowl. Hafele has started all six games for Butler this season. (Photo by Rachel Senn)

Freshman Olivia Colosimo took a hard kick from a Billiken player in the game’s 43rd minute and received treatment at halftime. Despite the injury, she took the field in the second half and played 78 minutes.

Colomiso said that she played through the pain for her teammates.

“We were in this game and really wanted to win,” she said. “I felt like I owed it to my team to put myself out there and to play hard.”

Despite her second half return, the decision was made to sit Colosimo during overtime instead of risking further injury, forcing her to watch the decisive extra period from the sidelines.

“It’s always tough watching your team play,” Colosimo said. “I tried to be as encouraging as possible.”

The Bulldogs utilized five bench players in the first half and four in the second half.

Freshman Ali Backscheider and sophomore Claire Milam got significant minutes for the Bulldogs, recording 81 minutes and 51 minutes respectively.

Sophomore Heather Keiser and freshmen Rachel Sklarski and Molly Allen also played vital roles off of the bench.

St. John stressed the importance of her squad’s mental toughness against the talented and physical Billikens.

“I don’t think that soccer-wise we were the better team,” St. John said. “But our mental toughness and just a pure will to win got us through.

“Coming off of that Miami game, they tasted what it is to win a game. It didn’t matter that they were coming at us. We were going to find a way to win this game.”

Junior goalkeeper Olivia Walter thwarted all three of St. Louis’ shots on goal and recorded her first shutout of the young season.

The Bulldogs, despite getting off to a slow start with four straight losses, are heating up and have scored six goals in the past two games.

Of those six goals, Griswold has netted four of them.

Melendez contributed the other two goals as well as two assists.

Butler has had this week to improve before they play in Corvallis, Ore. While there, they will participate in the Oregon State Tournament.

The tournament pits the Bulldogs against Pac-10 teams Oregon State (4-0) and Oregon (2-3-2).

They return home to host Oakland (1-4-1) Sept. 24 at 4 p.m.

Last week, sophomore forward Katie Griswold garnered an award that isn’t often won by Butler women’s soccer players.
On the heels of a 5-2 win over Miami (Ohio) in which Griswold scored the first hat trick of her career, she received honors as the Horizon League soccer player of the week.
All three goals were the first three of her young season, and they couldn’t have come at a better time.
“It felt the best to score the first goal. The goal was my first of the season,” Griswold said. “I felt like it had broken the ice for me.
“The third goal was just really thrilling because it had given me a hat trick. Three goals in one game in college—it doesn’t happen very often, so it was pretty exciting to get one.”
A difficult non-conference schedule left the women’s soccer team’s looking for their first win after going 0-4.
However, they are back on track, due to Griswold’s goal scoring.
“When I first found out [about the award], I was very surprised and excited,” Griswold said. “Both Ric and Tari, my coaches, texted me and told me congratulations and that they were very proud.”
That pride should grow as Griswold is on pace to have the season of her life.
After a freshman season with just five goals and four assists, Griswold has already scored four goals this season, including the game-winning goal against St. Louis this last week.
Griswold, a Youngstown, Ohio native, is a biomedical engineering major, part of Butler’s five-year Engineering Dual Degree Program.
Her life aspirations are unclear she said, but she’s enjoying soccer and school.
Individually, she said she understands her job on the team and will always do it to the best of her ability to ensure individual, and thus team, success.
“My goal for this season is just to score as many goals for my team as I can,” Griswold said. “My role on the team is mainly to score goals, so that is what I am going to do my best to do.”
Griswold is hoping that successfully playing her role will create more victories.
The team plans on viewing the four losses they have suffered so far as a learning experience and a set of benchmarks on which they will gauge their progress.
“Our team goal is for each player to give all they have out on the field so that we can win the Horizon League tournament,” Griswold said. “The non-conference games we are playing now mean a lot to us, but our focus is set for Sept. 26, which is the day we start conference play.”
After six games, the progress is clear.
The team’s goal differential in the last two games is plus four, exceeding the goal differential from their first three losses.
The Bulldogs have won their last two games, and are 2-2 at home. With better road play and Griswold leading the attack, these ladies are dangerous.