Men's Soccer | September 09, 2017

Box Score INDIANAPOLIS- The Western Michigan men's soccer team defeated No. 21 ranked and defending Big East champion Butler on the road Friday night, 3-2. The Broncos are undefeated through the first five games of the season, as their record moves to 4-0-1.

WMU's last win against a top-25 opponent was on Oct. 26, 2014 when the Broncos upset No. 19 Akron on the road, 1-0.

Butler's Isaac Galliford scored his first goal of the season in the 14th minute, sending a low shot to the bottom right corner to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 advantage.

Butler's lead was short-lived however, as Western Michigan responded with a fury of goals, netting three over a seven minute span to take control of the game. Jake Rufe, Brandon Bye, and Anthony Bowie scored in the 18th, 19th and 25th minutes, respectively.

"We had some explosive moments in the game tonight and capitalized by scoring three goals," said WMU head coach Chad Wiseman. "The first half was just a crazy half, hard to explain.

"I am very happy for the men tonight, what a great moment for the program. Going on the road, playing a quality side like Butler who is in the national top 25 rankings and winning the game, its hard to put into words how happy I am for our team."

Rufe buried a pass from Jay McIntosh from six yards out for his second goal of the season to spark WMU and tie the game in the 18th minute.

Less than a minute and a half later, Bye notched his third goal of the year and second in as many games, tucking a shot inside the right post from 12 yards away off an assist from Pepe Martinez.

McIntosh picked up his second assist and team-leading fifth of the season on Bowie's goal in the 25th minute, as the Broncos pulled ahead 3-1 before the half.

Brandon Guhl gave the Bulldogs a sliver of hope in the 88th minute, putting away Butler's second goal. The Western Michigan defense held sound over the last two minutes to finish out the 3-2 victory.

"We have a lot of respect for the Butler program, their coaches and players," Wiseman said. "They are a very talented team. We had a chance to score a fourth goal in the 73rd minute and their goalkeeper came up big with two saves in a row off a corner kick. We did what we had to do towards the end to hold on.  

"Overall I thought we created more of the dangerous chances in the game and Butler had more of the ball in the run of play."

WMU took 15 shots in the game, placing 10 on goal. McIntosh nearly headed in a cross from Bye in the fifth minute, but it went just high off the crossbar.

Bronco redshirt senior goalkeeper Drew Shepherd faced nine shots, four on goal and made two saves.

Western Michigan ends the weekend at Drake on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 4 p.m.