Transferring from one school to another midway through college can be exasperating. Add to the process the complications of being a full-time student-athlete, and individuals have an entirely new challenge on their hands.

Butler student-athletes who have transferred from other schools can attest to this.

Junior baseball first baseman Jimmy Risi referred to his transfer process as “an emotional time,” describing his transition from one school to another in the span of 48 hours. Despite deciding early on that she would be at Butler, sophomore women’s basketball player Daress McClung said the process can be “very stressful,” especially if one does not know what school to attend.

While not everyone has to go through such a quick or tolling jump, the struggle is evident for both incoming and outgoing students.

There are a few key reasons that a transferring student-athlete would run into problems changing institutions.

Most of these—such as low grade point averages and missing credits—are on a student’s own account.

Sometimes, there are more challenging issues.

In order for Butler to be able to speak with a potential transfer student, their previous institution has to grant permission to contact.

The following release of the athlete can make things even more complicated.

“At Butler, we feel like we want to do what’s in the best interest of our students,” Associate Athletic Director Beth Goetz said. “If that means their continued participation and attendance at Butler, that’s great. If it is someplace else, then we are typically supportive of that.

“We have not denied anyone’s permission to contact at all.”

Sometimes, an institution will not release a student, which often leads to an array of problems, appeals and hearings.

Regular NCAA rules must also be considered to determine if a student can start competing immediately, has to sit a year or, in the worst case scenario, sit two years.

McClung, for example, would have had to sit out two years if she had transferred from Cincinnati to another Big East school.

“They have different rules that make it nearly impossible for kids to transfer,” McClung said.

The basic rule is that athletes must sit a year unless they meet an exception.

In-league transfers are more complicated, and sometimes schools will refuse to release an athlete simply because they do not want students following them.

Even rivalries can come into play. Recently, a transfer from Ohio was almost not released because he intended to go to Illinois, a rival institution.

Sophomore soccer player Jamie Vollmer was fortunate enough that he did not have to sit a season after transferring from Butler to Indiana.

He transferred from Butler after his first year, asking for permission to contact four schools. He was allowed to speak with three, with the exception being North Carolina State.

N.C. State is where former Butler men’s soccer coach Kelly Findley is currently employed.

“There was just a lot of uncertainty and unanswered questions,” Vollmer said. “I just decided that I would look around. My transfer was athletics-based, but I also wanted to do physical therapy (a program which Butler does not offer). I decided I could be more successful transferring to IU.”

Vollmer, who plays under scholarship at Indiana, said Butler told him they did not want the whole team jumping to N.C. State after Findley left.

Matt Hedges, a former teammate of Vollmer, also transferred the year Findley left.

Hedges jumped to North Carolina and now plays for Major League Soccer team FC Dallas.

“I was allowed to appeal, but I just thought better of it and didn’t want to deal with it,” Vollmer said. “Besides that, everything went smoothly.”

Goetz said the athletics department’s general philosophy is to help transferring athletes in all cases.

“I don’t even need to know why you want to transfer, but we may ask because we want to continue to get better,” Goetz said.

For the most part, incoming Butler transfers said the same thing: Coaches are generally cooperative but wish their athletes would not leave.

Some students leave their schools because of academics, some leave for exposure and some leave to be back home.

However, they all go through the same process to get to their new institution.

“I loved my school and my friends and everything like that,” McClung said, “and I was playing. But Butler really cares about its players. They want me to get a better education.  I just felt it would be better to transfer.

“This is the best decision I think I’ve made as a whole, and I’ve made some pretty big decisions.”

For the Butler men’s soccer team, it turns out the best thing to do in Dayton is leave—with a tournament win.

The Bulldogs (3-1-1) grabbed two wins to capture the Dayton Marriott Classic, their first tournament championship of the season.

Butler defeated Western Illinois 3-2 Friday and followed that up with a 2-1 win over Houston Baptist in the tournament final Sunday to win the crown.

“It wasn’t a perfect weekend,” Butler head coach Paul Snape said. “But we executed, and overall it was a positive weekend.”

The Bulldogs finished the tournament strong, outshooting the Huskies (0-5) from Houston Baptist 19-10 in the final match.

Sophomore forward Austin Oldham accounted for both Butler goals and junior defenseman Jordan Burt led the team with six shots in the match.

Oldham got things started three minutes into play when he received a pass from Burt. He settled the ball and found the back of the net from 15 yards out to give Butler the early 1-0 advantage.

A one-score lead would not be enough, however, as the Huskies responded with a goal of their own in the 10th minute.

Freshman midfielder Zach Pierce was able to slip past Butler defenders and tie the game after narrowly putting the ball past the outstretched hand of sophomore goalkeeper Jon Dawson.

The Bulldogs shook off the strike and came out firing in the second half.

It was Oldham again beating the Huskies’ freshman goalkeeper, Kevin Suarez, to give Butler the lead in the 66th minute.

The goal secured the Bulldogs’  second victory in three days.

Photo by Erin Drennan

The Bulldogs’ first win of the tournament came Friday against Western Illinois.

In a game that proved to be a battle throughout, Butler came from behind twice to win the contest.

The Leathernecks (2-3-1) took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute on an unassisted strike from senior midfielder Daniel Lewis.

Lewis’ goal would be the only goal of the first half.

The second half of the match was an entirely different story, however.

Redshirt freshman defenseman Brandon Fricke scored the equalizer for the Bulldogs when he scored off of a rebound in the 54th minute.

The goal provided only temporary relief for Butler, as the Leathernecks scored just eight minutes later to grab a 2-1 advantage.

“It’s definitely frustrating falling behind twice,” Fricke said.  “But we just kept fighting and had a never say die attitude.”

It was Oldham who would tie the game a second time, scoring his third goal of the season in the 79th minute off an assist from freshman midfielder Zach Steinberger.

Three minutes later, the Bulldogs would tally the game-winner when sophomore midfielder Adam Glanzer received a pass from Oldham, who put the ball in the back of the net to seal a 3-2 victory for Butler.

The Bulldogs will head south to Kentucky Saturday to take on national powerhouse Louisville.

The Cardinals (4-1-0) started the season ranked No. 1 nationally but fell to No. 7 after a 2-1 loss to North Carolina, the new home of former Butler star Matt Hedges.

Hedges, who transferred to North Carolina from Butler, started all 20 games for the Bulldogs last season and was named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year.

Men’s soccer looks to remain unbeaten when it hosts Valparaiso Friday at 4 p.m.

Last weekend, the 14th-ranked Bulldogs (7-0, 2-0 HL) headed north to begin their Horizon League campaign with games against Green Bay on Friday and Milwaukee on Sept. 26.

“Rankings aren’t important now,” senior captain and midfielder Ben Sippola said. “You can be in the top 25 one minute and forgotten the next.

“If we’re ranked in the top 10 at the end of the season, we’ll be happy.”

Friday’s match against Green Bay (4-3-1, 0-1 HL), the league-opener for both teams, was a rematch of last year’s Horizon League Tournament Championship game in which the Phoenix won on penalty kicks, sending them to the NCAA Tournament.

Tallying his third goal of the season, freshman midfielder Adekunle Oluyedun put the Bulldogs on top just less than eight minutes into the game by sending a pass from senior Connor Burt into the back of the net.

Junior defender Matt Hedges gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead with close to 20 minutes left in the match.

Hedges was in the right place when Green Bay sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Wehking deflected a shot from Oluyedun, allowing Hedges to finish the play with a short shot to the back of the net. It was his third goal of the season.

The goal proved all the more important when, minutes later,  Green Bay senior J.C. Banks scored on a header off a pass from junior Tony Walls.

In the end, Butler held on to the match and outshot Green Bay 14-2.

Heading into yet another conference match on the road against the Milwaukee Panthers (2-4-2, 1-1 HL), the Bulldogs hoped to continue the same trend.

Sunday’s game began with a defensive stalemate as both teams went scoreless for the first 45 minutes of play.

The Bulldogs were able to put four shots on goal, but Milwaukee junior goalkeeper Bryce Boyd let nothing past his grasp.

Hedges finally broke the scoreless deadlock just five minutes into the second half.

The goal by Hedges turned out to be the game-winner, his second of the weekend and third of the year.

Hedges was named co-Horizon League Player of the Week for Sept. 20-26. He is second in the league in goals scored.

The Panthers picked up the attack in the latter part of the second half, outshooting the Bulldogs 10-5, but they were unable to surpass Butler’s defensive ranks. The Bulldogs held on for a 2-0 win.

Sippola said defense has been integral to the team’s success.

“We feel that if we can limit the amount of mistakes made and goals scored against us, regardless of the pedigree of team we are playing, we will not be outmatched,” he said.

The Bulldogs will return home for two games at the Butler Bowl versus Valparaiso on Friday and Evansville on Tuesday.