The Butler women’s soccer team defeated the Ball State Cardinals (3-3-2) 2-1 on the road after rallying from an early deficit.

The Bulldogs are now 2-2 when playing on the road.

The Bulldogs (6-3-1) were down the majority of the first half after an early goal by Ball State.

In the 44th minute freshman Sophia Maccagnone dribbled past two Cardinal defensemen before drilling a shot past the goalkeeper to tie the match.

Four minutes into the second half, senior Claire Milam tallied another goal for Butler.

Milam’s goal gave the Bulldogs the advantage they needed to put away the Cardinals.

The physical contest saw 35 fouls.

Last Friday, the Bulldogs pummeled the Eastern Illinois Panthers (2-6-0) 3-0 in their night match at the Butler Bowl.

The Bulldogs outshot the Panthers 27-4 in the one-sided contest.

Butler goalkeeper junior Julie Burton got her second start of the year and delivered a clean sheet.  Burton recorded one save in the victory.

A foul in the box set up Maccagnone to break the scoreless tie. Maccagnone buried a penalty kick into the back of the net, giving the Bulldogs the 1-0 lead.

Maccagnone stretched the Bulldog lead to 2-0 in the 80th minute after scoring her second goal of the match.

The Bulldogs held a 7-1 advantage in corner kicks.

In the waning moments of the game, junior Olivia Colosimo delivered a corner kick to junior Ali Backscheider, who gave Butler its final goal.

Maccagnone leads the team with five goals, including three in her last two matches.

She was named the Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Week.

With rain coming down in sheets at the Butler Bowl, the Butler women’s soccer team battled Tennessee-Martin to a scoreless draw on Sunday.

The Bulldogs (3-2-1) and Skyhawks (1-3-1) had to gear up not only for a battle against each other, but also against the remnants of Hurricane Isaac.

Photo by Heather Iwinski

The back-and-forth affair had its fair share of close calls.

For Butler, the closest of these came in the 59th minute when freshman midfielder Sophia Maccagnone sent a shot off the crossbar. The near miss was one of her four shots.

“I was able to get those chances mainly because my teammates were making them possible,” Maccagnone said. “They were opening space for me and making runs that caused UT Martin to spread out.”

After 110 minutes, neither team was able to dent the twine, despite a combined 33 shots between the squads.

“In weather like today, it’s very important for me to concentrate on catching the ball and being ready to react if the ball slips from my hands,” freshman goalkeeper Mackenzie Hopkins said.

The Bulldogs tallied 16 shots, but only two of them were on net.

Hopkins recorded five saves in the tie.

Last Wednesday, the Bulldogs grabbed their third victory of the season, downing Purdue 1-0.

The win was Butler’s first against the Boilermakers (4-2-0) in school history.

“It doesn’t matter which league each team plays in,” Hopkins said. “It matters which team is better on that day.”

The game’s only goal was scored when Maccagnone was able to step up and bury a penalty kick, helping Butler to its first road victory of the season.

“I did feel a lot of pressure,” Maccagnone said. “There wasn’t that much time left on the clock, and you never know if that could be our last opportunity to score.

“I knew my team had confidence in me, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t disappoint my teammates.”

The Bulldogs will head north Sunday to take on the University of Michigan.

With memories of the team’s 1-0 double overtime loss to Louisville possibly sitting in the minds of some Butler women’s soccer players, the Bulldogs looked to avenge the defeat in tonight’s rematch.

The Cardinals (1-0) proved to be too strong for the Bulldogs (0-1) to handle, however, as Louisville made its way to a 2-0 victory. The match was the season-opener for both teams.

In a game dominated by physicality, a finesse performance by Louisville sophomore forward Casey Whitfield in the 53rd minute led to the game-winning tally.

Just moments after beating multiple Butler defenders–only to have a shot turned away by Butler junior goalkeeper Julie Burton–Whitfield threaded the ball through several of the same Bulldogs and beat Burton with a shot.

In the 84th minute, junior midfielder Angelika Uremovich put the icing on the cake for the Cardinals by firing a shot over the outstretch arms of Burton off a free kick.

Sophomore forward Elise Kotsakis recorded five shots for the Bulldogs, and freshman midfielder Sophia Maccagnone added three11 more. Butler was outshot 11-10 by Louisville.

The match also saw 16 fouls and three yellow cards between the squads.

Butler will stay at home and prepare for Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. The two teams will square off in the Butler Bowl Sunday at 2 pm.