Up-and-down Grizzlies fall to Vikings

Sunday, October 2

Portland, Ore.

2:00 PM (MT)

Montana

5-5-3, 1-2-1BSC

Portland State

3-8-1, 1-2-1BSC

Montana

Portland State

10/2/2016 6:22:00 PM | Soccer

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By: Montana Sports Information

On a season's journey that's taken the Montana soccer team from promising to now sitting on the early postseason bubble, Sunday's match at Portland State was the Grizzlies' archetype.

Montana dominated play in the first half but lacked any of the same verve in the second, and a goal in the 71st minute gave the Vikings a 1-0 victory at Hillsboro Stadium.

The team that was ranked ninth in the NSCAA Pacific Region just a few short weeks ago and looked like it might be the class of the Big Sky Conference has now won just one of its last seven matches.

Montana is tied for sixth in the Big Sky standings, with a surging Weber State team coming to Missoula for a match on Friday before the Grizzlies return to the road.

With the end of the regular season just 26 days away, crunch time has arrived extra early this year.

Of course if Montana (5-5-3, 1-2-1 BSC) played every minute of every match like it did the first half on Sunday, there isn't a team in the league -- or possibly on the entire 2016 schedule -- that could handle it.

The turf at Hillsboro Stadium only highlighted Montana's athleticism. The Grizzlies' passing was sharp, their energy level high. A one-sided victory was seemingly in the making.

"I thought we looked really, really good," said coach Mark Plakorus. "As far as ball movement, it was probably one of our better halves of the season. We came out the first half and completely dominated."

There were two problems. Though the Grizzlies outshot the Vikings 11-4 -- and it felt even more lopsided than that -- nothing led to a goal. Abbie Faingold made three first-half saves and Montana's Madison Adams put one off the crossbar to keep the match scoreless at the break.

"We were moving it extremely well, but we weren't able to finish our chances," said Plakorus. "We weren't as sharp as we needed to be in front of the goal to put the chances we had away, which would have given us a pretty comfortable lead at halftime."

The other problem: These Grizzlies are as mercurial as any the sixth-year coach has had, and the team that took the field in the first half was nowhere to be seen in the second.

Portland State (3-8-1, 1-2-1 BSC) outshot Montana 7-2 in the second half and jumped on a defensive mistake for the match's lone goal.

Center back Tess Brenneman played a ball back to goalkeeper Kailey Norman, who tried to clear it with a low drive up the middle of the field.

Portland State's Aurora Bodenhamer was waiting at the top of the 18-yard box for an opportunity. She knocked down Norman's clearing attempt, and with nobody within 15 yards, she was able to take three steps toward goal and send one inside the right post for the unassisted game-winner.

"That game was pretty simple. The second half one team came out to compete and one team didn't," said Plakorus. "We didn't do the same things we did in the first half. We weren't composed, we weren't physical, we weren't aggressive, and we weren't dangerous.

"And then we gave up a goal that should never happen."

After falling behind, Montana got off just a single shot in the final 20 minutes.

"You've got to come out and play the full game. Once we got on our heels in the second half, it's tough to get going back forward again," said Plakorus.

Montana's lone match this week will come against Weber State on Friday at 3 p.m. at South Campus Stadium. The Wildcats won their third straight match on Sunday, winning 2-1 at Southern Utah.

Eastern Washington remained atop the Big Sky standings with a 1-0 victory at Sacramento State on Sunday, using a goal in the 86th minute to remain unbeaten in league through two weekends.

Idaho, which won 5-1 at home over North Dakota, and Weber State are one point behind the Eagles in the standings.

Idaho State, which moved up to fourth place, scored six unanswered goals after falling behind 2-0 to roll past Northern Colorado 6-2 in Pocatello on Sunday.