BY CLAYTON YOUNG | STAFF REPORTER
A hat trick from freshman forward David Goldsmith paced the Butler men’s soccer team (3-0-1) to a 4-1 win against Houston Baptist (1-2-0) at the Butler Bowl on Monday night.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a hot start in the match when freshman forward David Goldsmith found the back of the net from eight yards out in the 12th minute.
Through the rest of the first half, Butler missed different opportunities to score and went into the locker room at half with a 1-0 lead.
“I think playing against Louisville on Saturday night took a lot out of us,” said coach Paul Snape. “But at this point, I think for us with our performance tonight, that we just went away from our basics.”
But the drought didn’t last long. Goldsmith found the back of the net again off a crossing pass in the 51st minute to put the Bulldogs up 2-0.
Houston Baptist countered in the 65th minute when freshman forward Tobenna Uzo scored from 10 yards out.
Uzo’s goal put the Huskies within one goal with 25 minutes left to play.
In the 83rd minute, Houston Baptist was awarded a penalty kick on a yellow card by Butler junior defender Thor Kellin.
Huskies senior defender Walter Kromholz lined up across from Butler senior goalkeeper Jon Dawson for the PK that could tie the match.
“My parents always sit up on the hill behind me so in this goal I never really feel nervous,” Dawson said. “But as he came, he went with the direction of his knee but I was pretty happy to be there to make the save.”
With Dawson’s save, the momentum of the match switched back into Butler’s favor.
Goldsmith and Butler junior midfielder Zach Steinberger each scored in the 90th minute of the match putting Butler up 4-1.
The 90th minute goal for Goldsmith was his third, giving him a hat trick for the match.
“We fought for it tonight, and got the win,” sophomore forward Jeff Adkins said. “But other than that, we got to rebound because we have a big weekend coming up.”
Butler will be back on the road at the NIU Tournament in DeKalb, Ill. to take on Northern Illinois on Friday at 5 p.m and Northwestern on Sunday at 12 p.m.
