Final Stats

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. ââ'¬" The Villanova Wildcats applied strong pressure late but were unable to overcome a first half goal that propelled Butler to a 1-0 BIG EAST victory at Sickle Bowl here on a windy Saturday night. The loss dropped the 'Cats to 7-8 overall, 2-4 in conference action with three regular season games remaining.

"I thought we had them backed up in the second half and created chances," noted Wildcats head coach Tom Carlin. "There were a lot of moments where we were close but we couldn't get the one we needed."

Butler gained the early advantage on an attack that began in the central midfield after a Wildcats' clearing attempt struck the referee and caromed to the Bulldogs Bennett Kim. He then dribbled forward before spotting Lewis Suddick open on the left side. Suddick took the pass and fired a low shot that found the back of the net at 15:41 to put the Bulldogs in front 1-0.

"We were unlucky there," stated Carlin. "The ball went off the referee and right to their guy. Credit to Butler for making the play."

That would prove to be the only score of the first 45 minutes.

It was a largely quiet offensive first half otherwise. The two sides combined for only seven total shots, with three credited to the Wildcats off the feet of Zach Zandi, Conor Bradley, and Andreas Bartosinski. Butler held a 4-2 edge in corner kicks in the first period. Wildcats goalkeeper Will Steiner and the Bulldogs Eric Dick were each credited with one save in the period.

Early in the period Steiner came off of his line to punch away a dangerous corner kick opportunity for Butler to keep the deficit at one for the Wildcats.

In the 60th minute the Wildcats generated a quality offensive opportunity with nifty passing outside the top of the 18 yard box. The end result was a blast by junior Miguel Polley that was deflected off a Bulldog defender and collected in front of the net by Dick.

The Wildcats created a flurry of chances in the 72nd minute. The Wildcats twice had the ball in front of the goal only to have their bids blocked. The Bulldogs cleared the ball on both occasions, keeping the score at 1-0.

Senior Lucas Hodges nearly knotted the contest in the 78th minute when he volleyed a bouncing ball off the synthetic surface towards the net that nearly sneaked past Dick, who recovered to make the save at the last possible moment.

Another near miss came in the final minutes as senior Christopher Bared served a terrific ball in from the deep left side toward the right post toward Zandi on a run. The play just missed connecting on an opportunity that could have drawn the contest back to level.

"We were just really aggressive and I thought we were also able to step into them defensively some," said Carlin. "Our flow was better too. But you have to score to win and we weren't able to finish."

In the end, though, Butler's stout defense held up and the Bulldogs improved to 9-4 overall, 5-1 in the BIG EAST.

The Wildcats will try to earn valuable points Wednesday night when they head north to Jamaica, N.Y. to face the St. John's Red Storm. They then return to campus for a game at the Higgins Soccer Complex for the first time in three weeks when they host Providence on Oct. 28 at 1 p.m.

"It's on to the next one for us," stated Carlin. "It's been frustrating for our guys that we haven't found the consistency in scoring goals. We have to keep our heads up, though, and continue to work at it. There is still time left for us to get where we want to go."