Montana home for one, on the road for another

The Montana soccer team, coming off an important four-point weekend, will host Eastern Washington on Friday at South Campus Stadium, then travel to Moscow for a Sunday match at Idaho. Eastern Washington and Idaho, both unbeaten in league, are tied atop the Big Sky Conference standings.

The Grizzlies and Eagles play at 3 p.m. Friday, the Grizzlies and Vandals meet at 2 p.m. (MT) on Sunday.

Coverage: Friday's match will have both video coverage and live stats through gogriz.com. Sunday's match will have live stats through govandals.com.

Where they stand: After opening Big Sky Conference matches with road losses at North Dakota and Northern Colorado, Montana (4-7-2, 1-2-1 BSC) got back into postseason contention with an unbeaten home weekend against Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

The Grizzlies came back in the final minutes on Friday to knock off the Thunderbirds 2-1, then played to a 0-0 draw on Sunday against the Lumberjacks.

Eastern Washington (10-1-1, 4-0-0 BSC), which hasn't lost since Aug. 30, will enter Friday's match on an eight-match winning streak. The Eagles swept the Weber State-Idaho State road trip to open league, then won at home last weekend over Sacramento State, 3-1, and Portland State, 1-0.

Idaho (8-4-1, 4-0-0 BSC), which only plays one match this week, Sunday against Montana, is on a six-match unbeaten streak. The Vandals opened league with a 2-1 win at Idaho State. Three 1-0 shutouts have followed, against Weber State, Portland State and Sacramento State. Idaho has given up just two goals its last six matches.

This is familiar: Montana had a similar 1-2-1 start to its league schedule back in 2012. The Grizzlies won their final five Big Sky matches that season to finish in a three-way tie atop the standings with Idaho State and Portland State.

Eagles ranked: Eastern Washington cracked the top 10 in the NSCAA Pacific Region this week. The top 10 is made up of eight Pac-12 teams, San Diego State of the Mountain West Conference and the Eagles.

Brenneman honored: Montana junior center back Tess Brenneman was named to the CollegeSoccer360.com Primetime Performers Honor Roll this week for the Grizzlies' defensive work against Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

Montana allowed just a single goal in two matches, with Brenneman, who played all 200 minutes against the Thunderbirds and Lumberjacks, and back-line teammates making it so junior goalkeeper Kailey Norman only faced 10 shots on goal, five in each match.

Who's hot: Freshman forward Ellie Otteson scored and assisted on Montana's two goals as the Grizzlies scored in the 86th and 87th minutes to defeat Southern Utah last Friday at South Campus Stadium.

Eastern Washington sophomore forward Chloe Williams ranks second in the Big Sky Conference with nine goals. She scored six last season as a freshman to earn first-team All-Big Sky honors.

Idaho freshman goalkeeper Amanda Poertner, a two-time Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week this season, has gone 303 minutes without allowing a goal and has six shutouts on the season. Hunch: Mackenzie Akins is going to end that streak in the first half Sunday.

Montana 2, Southern Utah 1: Things looked bleak. The Grizzlies had lost five straight matches, and they'd just given up a goal to the Thunderbirds in the 79th minute to fall behind 1-0 on Friday. But goals by Ellie Otteson and sophomore Charlene Burger late helped Montana rally for the victory.

"A result like that gives them a lot of confidence," said coach Mark Plakorus. "We tell the team all the time that they've got to trust what we're doing and the things we're asking them to do, and that good things will happen. When they do, it lifts a team, especially a young team. It was something we needed."

Montana 0, Northern Arizona 0: Montana was playing its second match in less than 48 hours, Northern Arizona was playing its only match of the week. And it showed early on. The Lumberjacks outshot the Grizzlies 9-1 in the first half and took 11 of the match's first 12 shots.

But Montana would turn things around. The final shot tally: 13-13, with NAU taking just a single shot over the final 50 minutes of the match. Of the Grizzlies' 13 shots, only one was on goal.

"I thought we played well both games," said Plakorus. "It was unfortunate we didn't get a win on Sunday, but I was really pleased with the way we played and the way we competed.

"We're doing the right things and working hard, so it was good to see them have some good things happen to them. Our first half wasn't great, but they fought themselves back into the game and gave themselves an opportunity to get a result out of that game, and that's something we can build on."

What's going on in the Northwest? Eastern Washington snuck into last year's Big Sky tournament as the No. 6 seed and was picked seventh in this year's preseason coaches' poll. Idaho did not make last year's tournament and was picked ninth in the poll.

Now it's early October and four matches into the league schedule, and both are sitting atop the Big Sky standings.

Eastern Washington opened its season winning at UTEP and New Mexico State by 2-1 scores. The Eagles tied Cal State Bakersfield in Cheney and lost to UC Davis in Portland the next weekend. They have not lost since, which includes a 2-1 non-conference home victory over Idaho.

It's been a sweet and charmed season for EWU. The Eagles are 8-0 in one-goal matches. Idaho has been winning tight matches as well. All four of the Vandals' league wins have been by one goal, three by 1-0 scores.

Both teams are under second-year coaches. At Eastern Washington it's Chad Bodnar. At Idaho it's Derek Pittman. It was Plakorus's second season at Montana that the Grizzlies won a share of the regular-season title after more than a decade-long drought.

"Both coaches are starting to put their stamp on their programs and getting the type of players they want and playing the style that they want," said Plakorus. "Both are having a lot more success than they had last year, and that goes a long way to giving a team a lot of confidence."

Big Sky Conference standings:

Eastern Washington: 4-0-0 (12 points) ... 10-1-1 overall
Idaho: 4-0-0 (12) ... 8-4-1
Northern Colorado: 3-0-0 (9) ... 8-5-0
North Dakota: 2-1-0 (6) ... 4-6-1
Sacramento State: 2-2-0 (6) ... 4-8-0
Northern Arizona: 1-1-1 (4) ... 6-5-1
Montana: 1-2-1 (4) ... 4-7-2
Weber State: 1-3-0 (3) ... 5-7-1
Portland State: 1-3-0 (3) ... 3-9-0
Southern Utah: 0-3-0 (0) ... 5-6-0
Idaho State: 0-4-0 (0) ... 1-11-1

Big Sky note I: What's most noticeable in the current Big Sky standings is that the four most historically successful programs -- Montana, Portland State, Weber State and Idaho State -- are sitting the bottom half. Of course there is a lot of soccer left to be played.

Big Sky note II: With all the talk about Eastern Washington and Idaho, don't overlook Northern Colorado, which has had just as good of a start but has played one less match. The Bears swept Idaho State and Weber State in Greeley last week, outscoring the Bengals and Wildcats 4-0.

UNC plays its next four on the road before getting Eastern Washington and Idaho in Greeley.

Big Sky note III: Idaho State's Maria Sanchez has a Big Sky-leading 11 goals this season, just three fewer than Montana has scored as a team, but the Bengals are still a shell of what they've been in recent years under coach Allison Gibson.

ISU has just one win this year, an overtime victory over NAIA Westminster, and look no further than its defense for the reason. The Bengals have allowed 39 goals (3.0/g), 15 more than any other league team. Not even Sanchez can make up that much of a difference.

Big Sky note IV: North Dakota proved last week that its victory over Montana to open league wasn't a fluke. Playing at home for the second straight weekend, UND fell to Weber State in overtime before knocking off Idaho State.

Friday's schedule: Eastern Washington at Montana, North Dakota at Southern Utah, Northern Colorado at Northern Arizona, Sacramento State at Weber State, Idaho State at Portland State

Sunday's schedule: Montana at Idaho, Northern Colorado at Southern Utah, North Dakota at Northern Arizona, Portland State at Weber State, Sacramento State at Idaho State

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Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Akins

Tess Brenneman

Charlene Burger

Kailey Norman

Ellie Otteson

University of Montana Athletics