Hooks crashes into the IUPUI goalkeeper in the team’s Oct. 8 win vs. IUPUI. Photo courtesy of Butler Athletics.

JAKE KAUFMAN | SPORTS REPORTER | jfkaufman@butler.edu

The Butler men’s soccer team defeated IUPUI 4-1 at the Sellick Bowl on Saturday night. The Bulldogs improved to 7-3-1 on the season after the win against the Jaguars.  

Butler dominated possession early on, out-shooting IUPUI 6-1 over the first 25 minutes of the first half. 

In the 29th minute, Butler first-year forward Palmer Ault got tripped up and fouled just outside of the penalty area. Senior forward Wilmer Cabrera Jr. would take the ensuing free kick and deliver it just inside the right post, giving Butler a 1-0 lead. 

The game slowed for a bit following the Cabrera Jr. goal, with the two teams combining for just five shots over the next 24 minutes.

With 45 seconds left in the first half, IUPUI forward Josemir Gomez headed the corner kick from teammate Fernando Borges into the right side of the net tying the score at 1-1. 

Six minutes into the second half, Butler redshirt junior defensemen DJ Hooks, stole an IUPUI pass and sent a ball ahead to Ault. Ault sent it back to Hooks who slid it past IUPUI goalkeeper Bryson Najarian and into the left side of the net, giving Butler a 2-1 lead. 

Just over three minutes later, Butler first-year midfielder Joost de Schutter sent a pass up ahead to teammate redshirt junior midfielder Tommy Visser. Visser crossed it into the box where Hooks punched it in for his second goal of the game, increasing the Butler lead to 3-1.

In the 63rd minute, Hooks was fouled by Najarian at the end line. Butler fifth-year defenseman Griffin DeBolt took the ensuing penalty kick and drilled it into the left side of the net, giving Butler a 4-1 lead that would last for the rest of the match.

Following DeBolt’s goal, IUPUI managed just one shot over the final 27 minutes.

Najarian was given the only yellow card of the game in the 63rd minute with his foul on Hooks.

The Bulldogs outshot the Jaguars 22-7, with 11 of Butler’s shots going on goal compared to four for IUPUI. Hooks’s two tallies gives him five goals on the season and six in his career. Cabrera Jr.’s goal was his fifth of the season and the 22nd of his career, which moves into a tie for 10th place on Butler’s all-time list. DeBolt’s goal was his first of the season and the fourth of his career. 

Butler improves to 12-1-3 all-time vs IUPUI. 

The Bulldogs will continue their Big East schedule with a home matchup against Villanova on Wednesday, Oct. 12.