Griz face Redhawks Friday in tournament tuneup
10/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
Oct. 26, 2011
The Montana soccer team will play its final regular-season match Friday when the Grizzlies face Seattle University in Seattle. The match starts at 4 p.m. (MT) and will be held at SU's Championship Field.
Montana concluded its Big Sky Conference schedule last weekend and will be the No. 4 seed at the four-team Big Sky tournament next week at Greeley, Colo.
Live coverage: Fans can track the progress of Friday's match through blog coverage at GoSeattleU.com. A link to the blog will be the top story on the site's homepage Friday afternoon.
Where they stand: Montana is 6-10-2 and finished fourth in the Big Sky Conference regular-season standings after going 1-1-0 last weekend. The Grizzlies won a home match against Northern Arizona Friday, 1-0 on freshman Tyler Adair's first collegiate goal in the 86th minute, then dropped a 2-0 decision at Northern Colorado Sunday.
Seattle, which is an NCAA Division I independent, is 10-6-0. The Redhawks lost 1-0 at Texas Sunday in their most recent match.
The philosophy of scheduling: The Big Sky Conference coaches voted prior to this season to have a weekend off between the end of league matches and the start of the conference tournament. Three teams - Montana, Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington - opted to schedule a single match on the open weekend.
Montana is at Seattle and Northern Colorado is home to Nebraska-Omaha Friday. Seattle is at Eastern Washington Sunday.
"I like having Friday's game," UM coach Mark Plakorus said. "I think it's important to play a quality opponent going into the conference tournament, which Seattle is.
"I wouldn't like going into the conference tournament not having played in two weeks. At the same time, with just one match we're able to get some rest as well."
The Big Sky Conference's affiliate member: Playing an independent schedule, Seattle will end up having played four of the Big Sky's eight soccer-playing schools by the time its faces Eastern Washington Sunday.
The Redhawks also faced three teams - Idaho, Gonzaga and Boise State - that Montana also met earlier this year. The results indicate Friday's match should be a tight one.
Seattle won at Sacramento State 2-1 in overtime and won at Portland State, 2-1. The Grizzlies lost to the Hornets, 1-0, and played to a 2-2 draw with the Vikings, a match Montana led 2-0 at the half.
The Redhawks won at Idaho, 1-0, and lost home matches to Gonzaga and Boise State, both by 2-0 scores.
Montana lost at Idaho, 3-2, lost at Gonzaga, 2-0, and won two matches against Boise State, both in double overtime, once at Boise, 4-3, and once at Moscow, Idaho, 2-1.
Montana loses match, wins tournament spot: The Grizzlies controlled their postseason destiny going into Sunday's match at Northern Colorado. Win and they make the Big Sky tournament for the first time since 2008.
When Montana lost 2-0 to the Bears, a match that gave UNC a share of the regular-season championship and hosting rights to next weekend's tournament, it shifted the team's focus to Ogden, Utah, where Weber State was hosting Sacramento State in a match that started 60 minutes after Montana's match.
The Grizzlies needed either a Weber State win or a tie to make the tournament. A victory by the Hornets would have allowed Sac State to make the tournament, along with WSU, and kept Montana home.
The Wildcats won 1-0 on a goal in the 65th minute. A phone call was placed to Plakorus, who reported the good news to his players eating their post-match meal at Chipotle Mexican Grill in Greeley.
"It was very loud," Plakorus says, happily recalling the memory. "The girls were screaming and very excited. They are very happy they are getting this opportunity."
The Griz-Redhawk connection: Betsy Duerksen, who started Montana's soccer program and coached the Grizzlies from 1994 to 2003, was the head coach at Seattle from 1991 to 1993 and was the 1993 NAIA national coach of the year.
Julie Holmes was a two-time NAIA All-American for the then Chieftains under Duerksen and came to Missoula as Duerksen's assistant coach for the program's first three seasons.
Holmes, now Woodward, took over the Seattle program prior to the 1997 season and is currently in her 15th season. In the program's first 14 years under Woodward, the Redhawks won at least 11 matches 13 times and had 13 winning records.
The Redhawks are 203-80-25 under Woodward. She won her 200th career match when Seattle defeated San Diego State 3-1 at Las Vegas Sept. 18.
More on Seattle: The Redhawks are in their fourth and final year of reclassification from NCAA Division II to Division I. ... Seattle played its first 10 matches of the season on the road, going 7-3. The team did not have its first home match until hosting San Francisco Sept. 23. ... The Redhawks defeated then No. 8 Portland 2-0 at the Washington Husky Nike Invitational Sept. 2 (the Pilots are currently 7-8-1 and unranked). ... Freshman forward Stephanie Verdoia leads the team with 10 points (four goals, two assists). ... Six different players have scored at least two goals.
Griz notes: Montana leads the Big Sky Conference in goal (24) and corner kicks (4.78/g). ... Montana took 152 shots last season in 18 matches and scored eight goals. Through their 18th match of the season Sunday, the Grizzlies have taken 255 shots and scored 24 goals. ... Junior Erin Craig leads the Big Sky Conference in shots (3.82/g), points (1.29/g) and goals (0.59/g). ... Sophomore India Watne leads the Big Sky in assists (0.44/g). ... Junior defender Lauren Costa has played every minute this season (1,695), 300 more than any of her teammates. ... Freshman Tyler Adair's goal last Friday gives Montana 10 different goal scorers this season. ... Juniors Lauren Costa and Lauren McCreath and sophomores Maddey Frey, Mary Makris and India Watne have started all 18 matches this season.
Upcoming: Montana will be the No. 4 seed at the 2011 Big Sky Conference tournament next weekend at Greeley, Colo. The start times of the two semifinal matches on Friday, Nov. 4, have been moved up one hour to 2 and 5 p.m.
No. 3 Weber State will face No. 2 Portland State at 2 p.m. at UNC's Jackson Stadium. No. 4 Montana and No. 1 Northern Colorado will meet at 5 p.m., with the two winners meeting Sunday at 1 p.m. in the tournament championship match.
Portland State defeated Weber State 1-0 in their regular-season matchup at PSU, Northern Colorado topped Montana 2-0 in Greeley on Sunday.
