INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Western Michigan women's soccer team opened the 2022 regular season with a tough 5-0 loss on the road at Butler on Thursday night.
 
The Bulldogs jumped on the Broncos early with a goal in just the fourth minute by Katie Soderstrom on a shot into the bottom-left of the net. Butler pushed the lead to 2-0 with another tally in the 19th minute, this time by Claire Farrington. The Bulldogs then scored with one second left in the first half to set the Broncos back 3-0 to enter the second half.
 
WMU went down a player when Mira Pierre-Webster was issued a red card in the 47th minute and Butler capitalized with two more goals on the night, one in the 67th minute by Ariana Jalics and the second by Alli Leonard in the 74th.
 
The Bulldogs outshot the Broncos 25-3 overall on the day, with WMU's Lauren Boafo making eight saves in her second career start.
 
Western Michigan is back on the road on Sunday to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 12 p.m. The game can be watched live on ACC Network+.