Important road matches this weekend for Griz soccer team

The Montana soccer team will play its final Big Sky Conference road matches of the season this weekend when it travels to Idaho State and Weber State. The Grizzlies will play the Bengals at 4 p.m. on Friday in Pocatello and the Wildcats at noon on Sunday in Ogden.

Montana will conclude its Big Sky Conference schedule next week when it hosts Portland State and Sacramento State at South Campus Stadium. The Grizzlies will wrap up their regular season on Friday, Oct. 30, with a match at Texas.

Coverage: Both matches this weekend can be tracked via live stats. Sunday's match also will have video streaming through EverSport. Links can be found at gogriz.com.

Where they stand: Montana (5-8-2, 2-3-1 BSC) is in a three-way tie for sixth in the Big Sky Conference standings with Northern Arizona and North Dakota. ... Idaho State (1-13-1, 0-6-0 BSC) is in last place, the only league team without a win. ... Weber State (7-7-1, 3-3-0 BSC) is tied for fourth with Sacramento State.

What's at stake for Montana: It's expected that the cutoff to make the six-team Big Sky tournament the first full weekend of November will be around 16 points. (Note: In league play, teams get three points for a victory, one for a tie, zero for a loss.)

The Grizzlies enter their final four Big Sky matches sitting on seven points, which makes the math pretty easy. Montana probably has to go 3-1 over its final four matches to be playing in November. If they come up short, the Grizzlies will miss the postseason for the second time in three years.

And while Montana is tied for sixth, the two teams the Grizzlies are tied with -- Northern Arizona and North Dakota -- still have five league matches left to Montana's four. In fact, of the seven teams either tied with or ahead of the Grizzlies, five still have five league matches remaining. Disadvantage: Grizzlies.

Montana's Big Sky schedule will conclude next week, which will be one weekend before the 10 other league teams. When the Grizzlies are playing at Texas, everyone else will be playing one final match against their travel partner.

In other words, Montana's back is against the wall. Margin for error: tiny.

"We know our backs are up against the wall a little bit, and the girls know we've got to perform. We'd like our results to be a bit better, but they are what they are. We've got to own up to it and keep playing hard," said coach Mark Plakorus.

"Everything we want, as far as getting into the conference tournament and possibly winning a championship and going to the NCAA tournament is still sitting there, which is why we'll give our best effort these last four matches. Hopefully when our conference season is over, we'll have done enough."

Most recently: Montana put itself in a nice position when it handed Eastern Washington its first Big Sky loss of the season on Friday at South Campus Stadium, 2-1 in double overtime. Dani Morris put the Grizzlies up 1-0 in the 17th minute, and Allie Lucas scored the game-winner in the 108th.

Facing another unbeaten Big Sky team Sunday at Idaho, Montana gave up three second-half goals to fall 3-1. And just like that, any advantage from winning on Friday was negated.

"We played well on Friday. And we didn't play as well as we wanted to on Sunday," said Plakorus. "It was disappointing.

"If anybody knows what we're capable of, it's our team. When we don't meet our standards, nobody is more disappointed than our team. When we don't play to the level we expect, it's disappointing to all of us."

Montana vs. Idaho State: The Bengals are the most interesting team in the Big Sky Conference for the following reasons: sophomore Maria Sanchez has scored 15 goals this season, a total that ranks second nationally and is just two fewer than the Grizzlies have scored as a team.

Sanchez, who was a member of Mexico's national team that competed at the World Cup last summer, has scored all but five of her team's goals this season. Of the five she did not score, she assisted on three. In summary: she has played a role in 18 of the team's 20 goals this season.

On the other end of the field, ISU has allowed 46 goals in 15 matches. The team's goals-against average of 3.02 ranks 316th out of 327 Division I soccer teams. Look no further than this for the team's record.

Idaho State, whose only win this season was in overtime against NAIA Westminster, has allowed 18 goals through its first six Big Sky matches, which is right on its season average. The Bengals lost last week 4-1 to Portland State and 3-2 to Sacramento State. Sanchez scored all three of ISU's goals.

"Idaho State is a team that is dangerous because of the personnel it has," said Plakorus. "Maria Sanchez has grown a lot over the last year, mainly because of the experience of making the World Cup team for Mexico. That will give a kid a lot of confidence. She is dangerous every time she touches the ball.

"And they'll be hungry for some success, so it's going to be a battle. Nothing is ever easy in this conference. And at this time of year, things get even harder, because everybody wants it more and more."

History: Montana leads the all-time series with Idaho State 10-7-4. ... The Grizzlies are 2-3-3 against the Bengals in Pocatello. ... Last season Montana won the regular-season match at Missoula 3-1. In the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament, also at Missoula, ISU used two second-half goals to rally for a 2-1 victory.

Montana vs. Weber State: The Grizzlies are getting the Wildcats at just the wrong time, because WSU is peaking. Weber State scored a season-high four goals in its 4-2 home victory over Sacramento State on Friday, then matched that output with a 4-1 victory over Portland State on Sunday.

And whereas Idaho State is one-dimensional offensively, the Wildcats are flush with weapons. Mackenzie Harrison has scored six goals, and six other players have scored two or more. That includes Chansi Crompton, who has three goals and a Big Sky-leading nine assists.

It won't help that Weber State will be playing its only match of the weekend on Sunday.

"They're rolling. They are always a very, very good team, and they seem to have found their stride in the last few games, so that's going to be another tough one. And like every Sunday, we'll play a rested team, which is a challenge in itself," said Plakorus.

"They are going to cause a lot of problems for us, because they are a very talented team that keeps the ball well. They are patient with it and make you defend the entire field. We've got to be very good if we're going to handle that, then we've got to take advantage of our chances when we get them."

History: Montana leads the all-time series 12-11-2 and is 3-7-0 against Weber State at Ogden. ... The matches are usually as tight as the teams' all-time record. Fifteen of their last 18 matches have been ties or one-goal decisions.

Big Sky Conference standings:

Idaho: 5-0-0 (15 points) ... 9-4-1 overall
Eastern Washington: 4-1-0 (12) ... 10-2-1
Northern Colorado: 4-1-0 (12) ... 9-6-0
Weber State: 3-3-0 (9) ... 7-7-1
Sacramento State: 3-3-0 (9) ... 5-9-0
Northern Arizona: 2-2-1 (7) ... 7-6-1
North Dakota: 2-2-1 (7) ... 4-7-2
Montana: 2-3-1 (7) ... 5-8-2
Portland State: 2-4-0 (6) ... 4-10-0
Southern Utah: 1-3-1 (4) ... 6-6-1
Idaho State: 0-6-0 (0) ... 1-13-1

Important road matches this weekend for Griz soccer team

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Players Mentioned

Allie Lucas

Dani Morris

University of Montana Athletics