Griz to face Cougars Friday in Pullman

The Montana soccer team, in its only match of the week, will face Washington State on Friday in Pullman. The Grizzlies and Cougars will square off at 8 p.m. (MT) at WSU's Lower Soccer Field.

Where they stand: Montana, at 3-0-1, is off to its best four-match start in program history. The Grizzlies are ranked No. 9 this week in the NSCAA Pacific Region.

Washington State, which played a pair of ranked teams in its first two matches, is 1-2-0. The Cougars are ranked No. 8 in this week's region poll.

Coverage: Friday's match can be watched free of charge through WSU Live Stream, with Trevor Williams describing the action.

How they got here: After opening the season with wins over Oakland and Purdue at West Lafayette, Ind., Montana returned to the road last week and went 1-0-1. The Grizzlies used a late goal to earn a 1-1 draw at Wyoming on Friday, then shut out Denver on Sunday 1-0.

Washington State opened the season with a 2-1 overtime home loss to No. 16 BYU, then bounced back with a 1-0 home win over No. 13 Santa Clara last Thursday. On Sunday the Cougars went on the road and fell 1-0 at Gonzaga.

Series history: Washington State leads the all-time series with Montana 10-6-1 and has won the last six meetings. Five of those have been one-goal games, including last year when the Cougars won 1-0 in Missoula on a penalty kick late in the first overtime.

Montana's last win over Washington State was a 2-1 overtime victory in 2004 in Missoula.

The Grizzlies are 2-6-1 against the Cougars in Pullman, with losses on their last four trips to WSU. The last win was in the 2000 NCAA tournament, when Montana came away with a 1-0 victory.

More on Washington State: The Cougars are one of WSU's most successful programs, with trips to the NCAA tournament seven of the last eight years under four different coaches: Matt Potter, Keidane McAlpine, Steve Nugent and Todd Shulenberger.

Potter is now the head coach at Oklahoma, McAlpine the head coach at USC.

Washington State has finished fifth or better in the Pac-12 each of the last five seasons, with a runner-up finish behind UCLA in 2013, McAlpine's final year at the school.

"Washington State is one of the better teams in the Pac-12, and that's saying a lot," said UM coach Mark Plakorus. "Top to bottom, the Pac-12 has the best soccer in the country.

"It's going to be a tall order, but we knew that when we scheduled it. That's why we scheduled it. We want to challenge our team to rise to that level, because that's where we want to be. That's the level we're trying to raise our program to."

The Cougars are now in year No. 2 under Shulenberger, who led WSU to a 14-6 record -- with five of those six losses coming by a single goal, two in overtime -- last fall.

One of his team's wins came at South Campus Stadium, when Montana was whistled for a foul in the box with 12 seconds remaining in the first overtime. Kailiana Johnson converted the penalty kick.

"All the players have been through a full year with Todd now and know what he expects and how he wants to play, so they're more comfortable and have a better idea of what they want to do," said Plakorus.

Another Power 5 opponent: Friday's match will be Montana's 11th against a team from a Power 5 conference since Plakorus was hired prior to the 2011 season. The Grizzlies are 2-8 in those matches, but results are trending in a positive direction.

After dropping their first six, Montana broke through last season, defeating Iowa 1-0 in Missoula. The Grizzlies picked up win No. 2 when they knocked off Purdue on the road in overtime earlier this month.

Montana has also faced Stanford, Texas Tech, Texas and Missouri under Plakorus. Win or lose, all the matches come into play when the next Power 5 opponent rolls around.

"We use all the experiences we've had to give us confidence that if we do things the right way, if we execute our game plan, we can compete with these teams," said Plakorus.

"I think we've shown over the last few years that we can compete at that level and give teams games and make it difficult for them. In these types of games, it comes down to, when we get our chances, can we put one or two away and put ourselves in position to get a result."

Cougars to present unique look: Fans watching Friday's broadcast will notice a different type of personnel arrangement for Washington State than they're used to seeing.

"Their alignment is to use two holding and two attacking midfielders, with two frontrunners, so it kind of looks like a tower right down the middle of the field," said Plakorus.

"It gives their players freedom to pretty much go wherever they want to go, since they are not locked into a certain area of the field. You have to have players who are very tactically sound and can read space and understand what they are supposed to do based on those reads, and they do."

Facing that system last fall, Montana got outshot 18-7, 13-3 over the second half and first overtime, but Washington State only put five of those 18 shots on goal. The Grizzlies put four of their seven shots on goal.

"It's a difficult system to defend against, because there is so much mobility and so much interchange," said Plakorus. "You have to be very good in your team defending. If you have one person not doing what they're supposed to be doing, it will open a hole, and they'll find it. Then you're in trouble."

Castain returns: First-year Montana assistant coach Micaela Castain played at Washington State from 2010-13, which means five of the players on this year's Cougar team were former teammates.

As a senior Castain scored 11 goals and added a program-record 11 assists, and earned both Pac-12 Player of the Year and second-team NSCAA All-America honors.

Castain finished her career with 80 points, on 33 goals and 14 assists, a total that ranks third in Washington State history.

Montana Notes

* Given the success of the program under former coach Betsy Duerksen (1994-2003), it was surprising to learn that 3-0-1 is the best start ever for Montana. Duerksen had three teams start 3-1-0. Plakorus's first team, in 2011, also opened 3-1-0.

* Laramie, Wyo., is a difficult place to play, which made last Friday's 1-1 draw all the better. The Cowgirls were 16-5-1 at the Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex since the start of the 2014 season. The draw made Plakorus 2-6-1 at Wyoming as an assistant at Air Force and TCU and the head coach at Montana.

* Senior goalkeeper Kailey Norman was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday for her role in last week's 1-0-1 road trip. It was the fifth time in her career she has earned Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Norman made 10 saves on the trip, six at Wyoming and four at Denver. She leads the Big Sky in goals-against average (0.47) and shutouts (two), and ranks third in save percentage (.882).

She is the second Montana player to be honored this season. Sophomore Hallie Widner was named Offensive Player of the Week last week.

* Friday's equalizer in the 87th minute at Wyoming gave Widner a goal in each of Montana's first three games. It was her 10th career goal in 24 collegiate matches. Her goal came off a cross from junior Ashlee Pedersen, her third career assist.

Widner is tied with Northern Colorado's Mariel Gutierrez and Eastern Washington's Savannah Hoekstra for the Big Sky lead with three goals.

* Sunday's game-winning goal in the 30th minute was Ellie Otteson's first goal of the season and fourth of her career. She was assisted by Mary Gintz and McKenzie Warren. Gintz leads Montana and ranks second in the Big Sky with three assists. It was Warren's first career assist.

* The Grizzlies lead the Big Sky with just two goals allowed through four matches. Montana, North Dakota and Sacramento State all have a league-leading two shutouts.

* The Grizzlies' next win will be the 50th for Plakorus, who has a record of 49-43-16 at Montana.

Upcoming: Montana will make its home debut next week when the Grizzlies host Boise State at South Campus Stadium on Friday, Sept. 9, and Gonzaga on Sunday, Sept. 11.

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Players Mentioned

Mary Gintz

Kailey Norman

Ellie Otteson

Ashlee Pedersen

McKenzie Warren

Hallie Widner

University of Montana Athletics