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Butler Faces Wright State in Horizon League Tournament Opener
Nov. 2, 2005 TOURNEY TIME: The Bulldogs (7-9-2) enter this week's Horizon League Championships as the tournament's fifth seed and have a first-round match-up with fourth-seeded Wright State. Butler and the Raiders will play Thursday at approximately 1:30 p.m. (CST) in Green Bay, Wis. The match is the second of four quarterfinals set for Thursday. Click here for the 2005 Horizon League Tournament bracket. REPEAT OFFENDER: Butler coach Woody Sherwood shouldn't have too much trouble with Thursday's scouting report on Wright State, as the teams faced off in the regular season finale just six days before the tournament. The Raiders scored the 1-0 win in Dayton with Kim Chianese's goal in the 56th minute. Chianese chipped in her sixth goal of the season to the far post off Jodie Shoaf's feed to break a scoreless tie at the 55:27 mark. All seven of Butler's shots came in the closing half, led by four from junior Kristin Harnest. WHERE EVERYONE STANDS: UW-Milwaukee enters the tournament as the top seed after posting a 6-0-1 league record. The Panthers face eighth-seeded Cleveland State (0-6-1) in the opening round. Detroit secured the second spot with a 5-1-1 record and will face seventh-seeded Youngstown State (1-5-1). Host UW-Green Bay is the third seed after a 5-2 league season, narrowly edging fourth-seeded Wright State. Butler and Loyola finished the league slate with identical 2-5 records, but the Bulldogs claimed the tiebreaker thanks to their 1-0 win over the Ramblers Oct. 16. Youngstown State (1-5-1) and Cleveland State (0-6-1) finish in seventh and eighth place, respectively. GAME-WINNER: Senior Meredith Buemi posted two goals, including the game-winner, in Butler's 2-0 win over IUPUI Oct. 18. It was her team-leading third game-winner of the season. The two goals pushed Buemi into tenth on Butler's career goals list with 17 tallies. Buemi is already entrenched on Butler's Top Ten lists for assists (16, tied for fifth), points (50, tenth) and shots (114, tenth).
THE RAIDERS: Wright State enters Thursday's match with an overall record of 11-4-3 and currently have a six-match unbeaten streak in tact. The most dangerous offensive threats for WSU are Kim Chianese (15 points), Jodie Shoaf (13) and Michelle Sarmiento (11), while Steph Comisar boasts a 0.85 goals against average. Comisar has played all but 14 minutes of the Raiders' season as the team's keeper. Once the soccer season concludes, she'll join the Raiders' basketball team. THE SERIES: Butler is 10-6-1 all-time against the Raiders, but WSU has won the last two meetings after the Bulldogs had taken four straight contests leading up to the 2004 season. Butler and Wright State have split two previous tournament contests. The Bulldogs won, 1-0, in the 2001 semifinals in Detroit. Wright State defeated the Bulldogs, 2-1, in the 1998 Midwestern Collegiate Conference championship match in Indianapolis. PRESEASON RESPECT: Horizon League coaches tabbed Butler to finish third in the upcoming women's soccer season, the League office announced August 18. UW-Milwaukee received 47 points in a poll voted on by the League's eight head coaches. The Panthers received five of a possible seven-first place votes. Detroit clinched second place with 45 points and three-first place votes. Butler followed with 35 points. THE COACH: Using a laidback demeanor off the field and a fierce competitiveness on it, head coach Woody Sherwood continues to keep the Bulldogs among the Horizon League elite. The 2005 campaign is the seventh for Sherwood at Butler, where his Bulldogs have posted a 62-63-10 record, including an impressive 25-16-1 mark in Horizon League play. In eight seasons as a head coach, Sherwood's teams own an 84-80-12 (.511) mark. UP NEXT: It's win or go home for the Bulldogs. Horizon League tournament play continues in Green Bay with the semifinals set for Friday, Nov. 4 with the championship match Sunday, Nov. 6. QUICK SHOTS: The team's win over Cleveland State Oct. 9 was the first overtime win for Butler since beating Detroit in double overtime in the semifinals of the 2002 Horizon League Tournament. The Bulldogs were 0-2-5 in their seven overtime contests since that result...Freshman Angie Muir picked up Horizon League "Player of the Week" accolades for the week of Sept. 19, the second time that the Carmel, Ind., standout has been honored. Muir was also named the league's top player and to the 17-member Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week Sept. 5. She leads the team in every offensive category...Seniors Meredith Buemi and Kate Lord, and junior Kristin Harnest earned All-Tournament Team honors at the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Shootout in Hawaii Sept. 23-24.
Horizon League Standings
Butler Statistical Leaders
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