Griz-Eagles one more time

The Montana soccer team, seeded No. 4, will open the 2016 Big Sky Conference tournament on Wednesday with a quarterfinal match against No. 5 Eastern Washington on the Eagles' home field in Cheney, Wash.

Montana and Eastern Washington will square off at 2 p.m. (MT), with the winner advancing to face No. 1 Idaho at 2 p.m. (MT) on Friday in the semifinal round.

Coverage: All five tournament matches will be streamed through Eversport.tv. Links to live stats will also be added to gogriz.com when they become available.

The tournament field: For the second straight year, Idaho, with a record of 7-1-2 in league, won the Big Sky regular-season championship. The Vandals declined the option of hosting the tournament due to the condition of their field.

But instead of rolling down to the No. 2 seed, which turned out to be Sacramento State and would have been the just outcome, the opportunity was given to the school that ended up being the No. 5 seed. Technically Idaho is hosting the tournament, but the No. 5 seed is still playing at home.

The Hornets, who picked up an important 2-1 win at Portland State on Friday, earned the No. 2 seed and join Idaho in receiving a bye to the semifinals.

In Wednesday's opener, at 11 a.m. (MT), No. 6 Northern Colorado will face No. 3 Northern Arizona. The winner of that match will play Sacramento State at 11 a.m. (MT) on Friday in the first semifinal.

Sunday's championship match is scheduled for 1 p.m. (MT).

With No. 6 seed Northern Colorado entering the tournament with a 5-4-1 league record, it marks the first time since the tournament expanded to six teams that all the qualifiers have records better than .500.

The six teams were separated in the final standings by just seven points, from Idaho's 23 to UNC's 16.

"In my six years, the teams are closer now than they've ever been. There is not a lot that separates them," said coach Mark Plakorus, who is taking his fifth team to the tournament in his six seasons at Montana.

"The teams are very well coached, they have quality players, and they'll be very well prepared. It's going to be a very high-level tournament, so it will be a challenge for any of the teams to get through."

Round one: When Northern Arizona met Northern Colorado in Greeley on Oct. 9, the Bears came away with a 3-0 victory.

The first meeting, just last Friday, between Montana and Eastern Washington was a little tighter.

The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening 25 minutes. Ellie Otteson pulled the Grizzlies within one at the half with a goal in the 39th minute.

Ashlee Pedersen evened the score in the 61st minute, and Aspen Peifer scored the game-winner in the third minute of the first overtime to give Montana a 3-2 win, the Grizzlies' seventh straight win over the Eagles.

"It's tough to get road wins in this conference. To do it five days after you already did it once is going to be extremely difficult," said Plakorus.

"Eastern is one of the best teams in the conference. They easily could have been a top two or three seed, depending on our outcome last Friday."

Round two: Sacramento State will play either Northern Arizona or Northern Colorado in the first semifinal on Friday. The Hornets, who are on a five-match winning streak, played to a 1-1 draw at NAU and won 1-0 at UNC during the regular season.

In Friday's second semifinal, Idaho will face either Eastern Washington or Montana. The Vandals lost 2-1 in overtime at EWU during the regular season and won 4-1 at UM.

Tournament resume: Montana is playing in its 15th Big Sky Conference tournament this week. The Grizzlies have missed the postseason just five times since the league started holding a tournament in 1997.

Montana has an 11-8-4 tournament record, with tournament titles in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2011. The Grizzlies advanced to the NCAA tournament in 1999, 2000 and 2011.

Montana and Eastern Washington have met just once previously at the tournament. The No. 3 Grizzlies knocked off the No. 2 Eagles in the semifinals in 2004 at Portland State.

Plakorus resume: As previously referenced, Montana is making its fifth Big Sky tournament in six seasons under coach Mark Plakorus, who has a 2-2-3 record in tournament matches.

The Grizzlies won the 2011 title in a shootout over Weber State at Greeley, lost in a championship-match shootout to Idaho State at Pocatello in 2012 and lost in the semifinals in both 2014, at home, and last year, at Moscow.

Montana opened last November's tournament with a 2-0 shutout of Weber State in the quarterfinals. The Grizzlies fell to No. 1 Idaho 3-2 in the semifinals.

Northern Colorado won last year's tournament in a shootout over the host Vandals. It was the seventh time in the last eight years the host school did not advance to the NCAA tournament.

Upcoming: The winner of the Big Sky tournament will find out its NCAA tournament matchup on Monday at 2:30 p.m. (MT) on the NCAA.com selection show.

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Players Mentioned

Ellie Otteson

Ashlee Pedersen

Aspen Peifer

University of Montana Athletics