The Craig Hall Chronicles: Ellie Otteson

The first four freshmen soccer players profiled in the Craig Hall Chronicles all chose Montana for specific reasons.

Jacey Delaney? Well, when you're a Delaney living in Montana, joining the Grizzlies is a fait accompli. Janessa Fowler discovered a program where she could be challenged on a daily basis. Taryn Miller found something close to home, and Dani Morris rewarded a coach's loyalty.

Now along comes Ellie Otteson, who has a reason all her own. At first glance it might appear Otteson, of Snohomish, Wash., might break the trend of interesting storylines. Identified by the team's coaches, recruited and signed? Hardly.

Otteson may have the most Montana story of all, assuming you hear the word Montana and picture a version of the state from its mythologized past. A place that drew rugged individualists, adventurers who went all in on the belief that they had what it takes to show up and make a place for themselves.

That version of the state is mostly long gone. Still, consider Otteson the Millennial version. All she wanted to do was play Division I soccer, and Montana -- the program, school and state still sight unseen -- seemed like an attractive option. So she took it upon herself to make it happen.

It was the summer of 2013, following her sophomore year at Snohomish High. Otteson's club team wasn't ECNL, which meant her opportunities to be seen by college coaches were limited. She signed up for Montana's Elite College Academy. She had five days to show what she had.

"I'd never been to Montana before. It was something I wasn't sure about. I just kind of jumped into it," she says. "Because of the club I played for, I knew I needed to show myself more. I knew I had five days to show them what I could do, so I took the opportunity really seriously."

The path Otteson took to earn a spot on Montana's team -- show up to camp as an unknown and give the coaches five days of reasons they had to have her -- was exactly why coach Mark Plakorus started his Elite College Academy back in 2011.

Plakorus hits all the major club tournaments when he's recruiting, but even that only gives him less than the length of a sitcom to evaluate a player. And if your team isn't playing at those tournaments? Online videos and recruiting services are one way to go. But nothing beats showing up in person.

"The ID camp we run, or Elite Week as we call it, is designed to give players a look at what it would be like to be at Montana and be trained by our coaches. Players get to play on our field and see our facilities," Plakorus said.

"But it's also an opportunity for players to show us what they have for a longer period of time. When we go out go out recruiting, we may only have 20 minutes to see someone. When they are here, I get to see them for five days. That always gives us a better look at somebody."

When Montana's coaches scanned the list of campers for the Elite College Academy back in 2013, none of them knew anything about Otteson. Hadn't even heard of her. All she did that week was make sure she was not just on their radar but on their short list of must haves.

Over five days she hustled, scored, set up teammates, cheered and caught her future coaches' eyes. She made a name for herself and became a self-made Grizzly. If the story had been any more Montana, Otteson would have ridden off into the sunset on her horse toward Snohomish at camp's end.

"It was the best week ever," she says. "Playing at Montana was just right, and I had no idea it would be like that. I instantly loved it. It felt like I played my best there. I just knew it was right and that I wouldn't find anyplace better."

But it wasn't going to be that easy. Yes, the coaches had been impressed and had told her they would be in touch, but Otteson was just a sophomore, so nothing could be formalized. The coaches would still want to see her in competition outside of the camp setting.

Except to Otteson, everything had been perfect. She had never played better, and she left campus thinking there was no place she'd rather go to school. In her mind it was a done deal. Why did there have to be more? Hadn't both sides seen enough?

But it had been like a first date. And in this case, one of the sides was interested but still wanted some more get-to-know-you time. Otteson, on the other hand, was done looking. She knew what she wanted, and she didn't want anything to mess it up.

"Every time Mark came and watched me play after camp, I felt a lot of pressure," she says. "I had such a good experience at camp that I didn't want to ruin anything." Not that there wasn't some detritus along the way.

Otteson was the starting shooting guard on Snohomish High's basketball team as a sophomore. During her junior year the Panthers were scheduled to play an early-season game. Her club soccer team also had a game. On the same night. Plakorus would be there. It was another chance to solidify the deal.

"Mark was going to come watch me, and I really wanted him to see me play again, because it was before I committed. It was really important to me," says Otteson, who committed the summer after her junior year. Her basketball coach -- or maybe better defined as a martinet with a whistle -- wasn't having it.

"He gave me an ultimatum. I told him I needed to follow my dream and that I didn't want to pass up any opportunities. I wanted to take every chance I had." Soccer was in, basketball was out. "I had a lot of fun with it, but that was it for basketball. It wasn't as important to me as soccer."

Fast-forward to Friday evening at South Campus Stadium, Montana vs. Wyoming. Eight minutes into the second half in what would turn out to be a 0-0 draw. Sophomore Allie Lucas found space up the right side and crossed a ball into the box.

On the game film, the pass goes over the head of one Montana player and looks like it's going to float harmlessly through. Suddenly a streak of white enters the picture from the left. It's Otteson, and she puts a head on the ball. It goes over the crossbar by maybe 12 inches. The play tells a lot.

There was a hint of her mom, who played soccer at Washington State in the years before the Cougars became an intercollegiate program in 1989. There was some of her dad, Doug, an athlete himself who coached the three Otteson kids in basketball while Shannon handled soccer-coaching duties.

There was a suggestion of the daredevil who spends her winters on a snowboard and her summers playing on the Columbia River. And the way she rose up and practically rode a Cowgirl -- the poor defender thought she had a bead on the ball -- a taste of the wild, wild west.

But what really came through in that moment, and what caught Plakorus's eye back in the summer of 2013, is that Otteson is a natural-born goal-scorer. She possesses an eye-of-the-hurricane calmness when everything around her is becoming chaotic, an unteachable trait that does wonders near the goal.

She is the perfect storm of goal-scoring characteristics. Does the moment slow down for her (think: Wesley Gibson shooting the wings off flies), or does everyone else just start to lose it? "People freak out. Composure is a good quality I have."

Otteson hadn't played in a meaningful game, she figures, in nearly six months before the Wyoming match on Friday. Her last high school game was a 6-1 loss at the Washington Class 4A state tournament to Central Valley High, the eventual state champion that had an injured Taryn Miller on the sideline.

The scoring will come. Her header was just a tantalizing peak at what's ahead. "It feels good to score in a high school game. I can't imagine what it will feel like to score in a college game." So close on Friday. It was just one shot, but Montana's upcoming opponents should know it wasn't an anomaly.

Otteson's made it to Montana. But that was only step one. Now it's time to leave her mark.

University of Montana Athletics

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Jacey Delaney

Janessa Fowler

Allie Lucas

Taryn Miller

Dani Morris

Ellie Otteson

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