The Butler men’s soccer team picked up its first win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis last night at the Butler Bowl.
Scoring for the Bulldogs were sophomore Brandon Fricke and senior Tyler Pollock.
Both teams came out strong to start the game and continued to take their chances at goal with no luck until Fricke broke the tie at the 55th minute of the match.
Fricke scored the goal off a free kick on a pass from Zach Steinberger and then rocketed the ball from 20 yards out past Jaguar goalkeeper Eduardo Cortes into the bottom left corner of the net. It was his first goal of the season and the second of his career.
The Bulldogs added another goal in the 77th minute when senior Tyler Pollock took a cross from freshman Jeff Adkins and laid the ball into the corner of the net from 15 yards out.
“I thought tonight we started off real well. We had a great game plan and we really wanted impose our attacking philosophy on the game.” coach Paul Snape said about last night’s contest, “I think we created some great chances and we were patient and it worked for us tonight.”
Junior Austin Oldham had a team-high four shots, including two shots on goal for the Bulldogs.
Adkins added three shots for the Bulldogs in the match.
Junior goalkeeper Jon Dawson continued his presence in the goal for Butler as he earned his second shutout of the season, while racking up three saves in the second half.
The victory came after two consecutive draws in the VCU Nike Classic last weekend.
Butler ended its season opener against College of William & Mary in a draw after 110 minutes of play. Both teams combined for 33 shots in the match and 12 of those attempts were on goal.
“I believe a big trip like this one to Virginia really helped us feel like we are a big program,” Dawson said. “A draw wasn’t really the goal we had in mind going into the tournament, but we’ll take it and it will help us get better throughout the course of this season.”
Butler moved on to their second game of the weekend as it took on Bucknell last Sunday.
The Bulldogs scored their first goal early and continued that advantage through the first half and through the first 13 minutes of play in the second period.
Dawson shined again in the second match saving two of three shots on goal while junior Austin Oldham led the Bulldogs with eight shots, including four shots on goal, in the weekend’s two matches.
The Bison tied the match in the 58th minute when a throw-in by Mayowa Alli ended in a ricochet shot off a Butler defender and into the Bulldogs’ goal.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Bulldogs will continue their three-match homestand against Northern Kentucky on Friday, Sept. 7. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Butler Bowl.
