Soccer team on road for two matches

The Montana soccer team, coming off a home split in its Big Sky Conference openers, will play road matches this weekend at Sacramento State and Portland State.

The Grizzlies will face the Hornets at 5 p.m. (MT) on Friday and the Vikings on Sunday at 2 p.m. (MT).

Where they stand: All three teams opened league play last week with different levels of success. Montana (5-4-2, 1-1-0 BSC) split at home, falling 4-1 on Friday to preseason league favorite Idaho, then rebounding nicely with a 2-0 shutout of Idaho State on Sunday.

Sacramento State (3-4-3, 1-0-1 BSC) had an unbeaten road trip to Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. The Hornets used a pair of goals in the opening 14 minutes to win 2-0 at SUU on Friday and an own goal in the 53rd minute to earn a 1-1 draw at NAU on Sunday.

Portland State (2-8-0, 0-2-0 BSC) dropped both matches on the same road trip, both in overtime. Northern Arizona scored the game-winner in Friday's 2-1 victory over the Vikings in the 93rd minute. Southern Utah struck in the 94th minute in Sunday's 3-2 win over PSU.

Coverage: Both matches can be tracked via live stats. Sunday's match at Portland State will also have video coverage. Links are available at gogriz.com.

The week that was: Idaho got the better of Montana in both teams' Big Sky opener at South Campus Stadium on Friday. After the Grizzlies missed a penalty kick in the 20th minute with the match still scoreless, the Vandals struck with four straight goals.

Montana's lone goal, in the 72nd minute that cut its deficit to 4-1, came off a Taryn Miller header from a Carlee Bates corner kick. It was Miller's first career goal.

Despite the lopsided score, Idaho had a slim 14-11 shots advantage, and Montana created six corner kicks to the Vandals' three.

Needing a bounce-back win on Sunday, the Grizzlies got it, striking for two first-half goals in their 2-0 shutout of Idaho State. It was Montana's first multiple-goal game since winning 2-1 in overtime at Purdue back on Aug. 21.

Madison Adams scored her first collegiate goal in the 15th minute, off an assist from Hallie Widner, who scored her team-leading eighth point. Ashlee Pedersen scored her fourth career goal in the 34th minute off Charlene Burger's first assist of the season.

Kailey Norman picked up her 21st career shutout, her 26th career win.

The split gave Montana three points in the Big Sky standings. A good result but not the amount of points contenders generate on two-match home stands.

"We're 1-1 and we got three points, so we're better than we were at this point last year," said coach Mark Plakorus, whose team lost at North Dakota and Northern Colorado to open league play last fall.

"We've got two good opponents on the road this week, and your hope on the road is that you just somehow pull some points. We have some points we have to make up at some point this season because we did drop a home match, but you take each week as it is."

Difficult road trip upcoming: Montana swept the Sacramento State-Portland State road trip the last time it came up on the schedule, in 2014, but that was an exception and not the norm. It was the first sweep of that road trip for the Grizzlies since 1998.

Montana will be challenged in multiple ways this weekend. Different teams with different playing styles, different weather (low 80s and sunny on Friday, light rain and 50s on Sunday) and different types of fields (grass on Friday, artificial turf within the confines of Hillsboro Stadium's football field on Sunday).

"With the large footprint of this conference, travel is always going to be difficult, but to have a successful season, you have to be able to handle the road," said Plakorus.

"You not only have to compete with your opponents and the way they play, you have to be prepared to deal with different weather conditions and the surfaces you have to play on. It's something that's very unique to soccer and what makes it so difficult to win on the road."

More on Sacramento State: The Hornets went 8-12-0 last season and finished sixth in the Big Sky at 5-5-0 to make the six-team league tournament as the No. 6 seed. Like Montana, Sac State knocked off a higher-seeded team in the quarterfinals, beating No. 3 Eastern Washington 3-1, before falling to No. 2 Northern Colorado 3-1 in the semifinals. ... The Hornets were picked sixth in this year's preseason coaches' poll. ... Sacramento State went 1-2-2 at home through its nonconference schedule. ... The Hornets have gone to overtime in six of their 10 matches this season. They are 1-2-3 in those matches. ... Through 10 matches, Sac State has scored nine goals and given up nine goals. The team's 0.82 goals-against average leads the Big Sky. ... Sophomore goalkeeper Destiny Butcher leads the Big Sky in goals-against average (0.82) and save percentage (.866).

History: Montana leads the all-time series with Sacramento State 12-7-4. The teams are 5-5-1 against one another in matches played in Sacramento. The Grizzlies have won the last two matchups against the Hornets, winning 2-1 on the road in 2014 and 1-0 in Missoula last fall. Sac State had won the previous four meetings, all by shutout.

More on Portland State: The Vikings went 5-13-0 last season and finished ninth in the Big Sky with a 3-7-0 league mark. ... PSU missed the Big Sky tournament last fall for the first time since 2006. ... Portland State was picked eighth in this year's preseason coaches' poll. ... The Vikings' two wins this season came at Nevada (1-0) and home against Colorado State (2-0). ... PSU has three common opponents with Montana this fall. Portland State lost 4-3 to Fresno State, 5-2 to Gonzaga and 5-1 to San Jose State. The Grizzlies lost 1-0 to Fresno State, lost 1-0 to Gonzaga and played to a 0-0 draw against San Jose State. ... The Vikings posted shutouts in their two victories. In their eight losses they've allowed 29 goals, the most in the Big Sky.

History: Montana and Portland State are deadlocked in their series 11-11-2. The Grizzlies hold a 5-4-1 advantage in matches played in Portland. Montana has won three of the last four in the series. Portland State had won nine of the previous 11 meetings.

Around the Big Sky Conference

Team of the week: Eastern Washington. Two days after Idaho won 4-1 at Montana, the Eagles hosted the Vandals in Cheney. Idaho evened the score at 1-1 on a penalty kick in the 86th minute. EWU won in the 100th minute with an overtime penalty kick goal by Chloe Williams, her seventh of the season.

The Eagles sit atop the Big Sky standings through one week of matches. Their six points have them up on Northern Arizona and Sacramento State, both of which started 1-0-1 and have four points.

Non-Montana match of the week: Northern Colorado at Idaho (Friday). A rematch of last year's Big Sky tournament championship, on the same field the Bears clinched an NCAA tournament spot with a shootout victory over the Vandals. UNC won its only match last week, 2-1 at Weber State.

Friday in the Big Sky: UM at SAC, EWU at PSU, UND at ISU, UNC at UI, NAU at WSU
Sunday in the Big Sky: UM at PSU, EWU at SAC, UNC at ISU, UND at UI, SUU at WSU

Upcoming: Montana will have a single-match week when the Grizzlies host Weber State on Friday, Oct. 7, at 3 p.m. at South Campus Stadium.

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Players Mentioned

Madison Adams

Carlee Bates

Charlene Burger

Taryn Miller

Kailey Norman

Ashlee Pedersen

Hallie Widner

University of Montana Athletics