Griz with two more road tests this week

The Montana soccer team will be back on the road this week with matches at Wyoming and Denver. The Grizzlies will take on the Cowgirls at 4:30 p.m. on Friday at Laramie, Wyo., and the Pioneers at noon on Sunday in Denver, Colo.

Coverage: Friday's match will have free video coverage through the Mountain West Conference. Sunday's match will be aired on Altitude, with Brad Thompson and Chris Bianchi calling the action. The match can be found on channel 59 for those with Charter, 413 with Dish Network and 681 with DirecTV.

Where they stand: Montana is off to its first 2-0-0 start since 2011 and for just the second time since 2004. The Grizzlies defeated Oakland and Purdue last weekend in West Lafayette, Ind., winning 2-0 and 2-1 in overtime, respectively.

Wyoming also will enter Friday's match with a 2-0-0 record. The Cowgirls opened their season at home last week with a 2-0 win over Houston Baptist. Wyoming won at Idaho State by the same score on Tuesday night.

Denver, historically one of the more successful programs in the West, is 0-2-0, with a 2-0 home loss to Colorado State last week and a 3-0 neutral-site loss to Colorado College at Boulder. The Pioneers host Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Friday night.

Montana-Wyoming notes: The Grizzlies and Cowgirls, who are coached by Pete Cuadrado, are playing for the seventh-straight season and for the 11th time overall. The Grizzlies lead the series 5-3-2 and have gone 3-2-0 against the Cowgirls in Laramie.

Wyoming, picked fourth in the Mountain West preseason coaches' poll behind San Diego State, San Jose State and New Mexico, went 10-6-4 last season, finishing fourth in league at 6-4-1, and all 11 starters are back from that team. The teams played to a 0-0 draw in Missoula last August.

In his first five seasons at Montana, coach Mark Plakorus has faced a Cuadrado-coached team six times, thanks to a schedule that had the Grizzlies facing North Dakota State, where Cuadrado previously coached, twice in 2011. Plakorus is 1-3-2 against Cuadrado's teams.

"Pete is a very good coach. His teams are very talented, and they are very well organized," said Plakorus. "We always know going into these games that it's going to be a battle and a challenge in every aspect of the game. We have to be prepared to meet that challenge."

Montana-Denver notes: Despite their relatively convenient locations -- it's a direct flight from Missoula to Denver -- the Grizzlies and Pioneers will be playing for just the second time on Sunday. Denver, which was ranked No. 23 at the time, won the only other matchup 2-0 in 2008.

Jeff Hooker is in his 25th year coaching Denver and has 319 career wins. He's taken the Pioneers to nine NCAA tournaments, and the team has been in the Sweet 16 as recently as 2012.

Denver was picked fourth in the Summit League preseason coaches' poll, coming in behind North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Oral Roberts.

"It's a great opportunity to play a program as successful as Denver," said Plakorus. "They have a tradition of producing quality teams every year. I've known Jeff for a long time, and I respect him a lot for what he does, how he coaches and how his teams play.

"There is not an easy game on our schedule. We have to give our best effort every time we step on the field, because these teams are extremely good. Denver is no different."

Montana Notes:

* Widner honored: Sophomore midfielder Hallie Widner was named the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after scoring twice and adding an assist in Montana's wins last weekend. It was the second such award for Widner, who also was recognized once as a freshman in 2014.

* Griz ranked: For the first time under sixth-year coach Mark Plakorus, Montana has cracked the Pac-12-heavy NSCAA Pacific Region poll. In the season's first poll, which came out Tuesday, the Grizzlies were ranked 10th, behind nine Pac-12 teams and ahead of any programs from the Mountain West.

* Norman stands tall: Senior goalkeeper Kailey Norman played every minute in goal last weekend and collected career wins No. 22 and 23, with career shutout No. 17 against Oakland. Norman was voted second-team All-Big Sky Conference as a sophomore and junior.

"Goalkeeping is a lot different than being a field player. Goalkeepers usually develop over a longer period of time, so the more experiences they have, the better they are going to be," Plakorus said. "In Kailey's case, that's exactly what she is for us.

"Her experience and her leadership and her confidence really flow over to the team. She gives not only our back line but our entire team a belief that we can play with anybody. They know that if they make a mistake or someone gets through them and gets a good look, they still have to beat Kailey."

In Friday's match, Norman faced just six shots, none of which were on goal, but don't let that fool you into thinking she didn't need to be involved. She was into the game just as much as she was on Sunday, when she faced 15 shots and made five saves against Purdue.

"Kailey was very good for us last weekend," said Plakorus. "Even though Oakland didn't get a lot of shots on her, she did a lot to keep our team locked in and focused.

"She never just sits on her line. She directs our defense and keeps everyone organized, she clears balls when she needs to. She did those things against Purdue, and they also created opportunities she had to deal with."

* Griz open 2-0: Montana is 2-0 for the first time since 2011, Plakorus's first season, when the Grizzlies opened with three straight victories, over Boise State, Wyoming and Boise State again.

Montana is now 4-0-2 in season openers under Plakorus and 7-2-3 in opening-weekend matches under the sixth-year coach.

"I liked the energy of the team (last weekend)," Plakorus said. "I liked the lessons we learned from Friday to Sunday, in terms of our preparation and our mentality getting ready for that game.

"The energy was just fantastic, as was the effort each person gave, even the ones who didn't get to see the field. Every player who went into the game was ready, and that says a lot about a team growing and learning. You could tell they were having a great time playing."

* Beware the accolades of August: It's not even Labor Day, and Montana has a win over Purdue, a Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week, a region ranking and a spot on NCAA.com, as the site highlighted McKenzie Warren's game-winner against the Boilermakers as one of top six goals in the nation last weekend.

That the team is playing well so early is great. But it's still just August.

"You want to take the time to appreciate your accomplishments, but then it's time to move on to the next challenge," Plakorus said. "And the girls do a really good job of that.

"To get better every week, which is what we want to do, you always have to be prepared for the next challenge. We always want to be competing at a high level and never be satisfied with what we have."

* It takes a team: Widner, Warren and Chanelle Pederson scored the goals, and Norman picked up a pair of wins in goal, but those shouldn't be the only names to emerge out of last weekend.

Allie Lucas and Mary Gintz picked up assists against Oakland, and Gintz added another on Widner's equalizer in the 84th minute against Purdue. And center back Tess Brenneman never left the field over the course of two matches.

In the midfield it was Kaitlin Crowell and Janessa Fowler who drew praise from Plakorus. Both played 67 or more minutes against Oakland, then both played 80 or more against Purdue while adapting to a new alignment geared toward stymieing the Boilermakers.

"Both were holding midfielders in our game against Purdue," said Plakorus. "It was a slight tactical change, but we were asking more from them from a defensive standpoint.

"They executed it very, very well. They read the game well and made good decisions. When they needed to do things for us, whether it was win a ball or switch the field and attack, they were spot-on in that game. They performed at a high level, which we needed them to do."

Inside the numbers:

* Last week's two wins leave Plakorus, who has a career record of 48-43-15, a pair of victories from reaching 50. He still has a ways to go to reach Betsy Duerksen, who went 117-69-7 while leading the Griz soccer program from its start in 1994 to 2003.

* Sunday's come-from-behind win at Purdue was Montana's first time rallying from down a goal in a true road match since winning 2-1 at Idaho State in 2011.

* Montana matched Oakland and Purdue in shots taken last weekend with 21, but the Grizzlies scored four times while holding their opponents to one.

* Montana has allowed just six shots on goal through two matches and has generated nine corner kicks to its opponents' four.

* Widner's five-point weekend gives her 22 for her career just two games into her second season. She scored seven goals and added three assists to earn first-team All-Big Sky honors as a true freshman in 2014. She missed last season with a broken leg.

* Warren's game-winner against Purdue on Sunday was her second career goal. Her other goal, which came last year as a freshman, was the game-winner in Montana's 1-0 victory over Iowa. #ScheduleMoreBigTen

* Pederson's goal against Oakland, just 16:31 into the season, was her first career game-winner and the second of her career.

* Gintz, an outside back by definition, has quietly become a playmaker on the other end of the field. She had two assists last weekend and has eight since the start of last season.

* Lucas's assist on Pederson's game-winner against Oakland was the fifth of her career but her first since the final match of the 2014 season.

* Montana's 21 shots last weekend were spread out among 11 different players.

* Norman came out of last weekend with a .833 save percentage and a 0.50 goals-against average.

Upcoming: Montana will play a single match next week, taking on Washington State in Pullman next Friday at 8 p.m. (MT). The Cougars (0-1-0) lost to No. 16 BYU at home in double overtime in their season opener last week. WSU hosts No. 13 Santa Clara on Thursday, Gonzaga on Sunday.

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Players Mentioned

Tess Brenneman

Kaitlin Crowell

Janessa Fowler

Mary Gintz

Allie Lucas

Kailey Norman

Chanelle Pederson

McKenzie Warren

Hallie Widner

University of Montana Athletics