Montana hosts pair of regional foes this weekend

The Montana soccer team will host a pair of regional opponents this weekend as the Grizzlies make their regular-season debut at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.

Montana will face Boise State on Friday at 5 p.m., then take on Gonzaga on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Where they stand: Montana, ranked No. 10 in this week's NSCAA Pacific Region poll, is 3-1-1. The Grizzlies suffered their first loss of the season when they fell at Washington State by a score of 2-1 on Friday night in Pullman.

Boise State is a deceptive 1-4 (more on that below) and on a four-match losing streak. Gonzaga is 3-1-1. The Bulldogs have won their last two matches, over Washington State and Portland State, by a combined score of 6-2.

Coverage: Both matches this weekend will have free video coverage through EverSport, with Jackson Wagner, now in his third year, calling the action, as well as live stats. Links can be found on gogriz.com.

Griz drop first match of season: Montana opened the scoring Friday night at Washington State when McKenzie Warren made it 1-0 in the 27th minute when she put in a cross from Allie Lucas. The lead would not last long.

Alysha Overland tied the score in the 35th minute, then made it 2-1 just 68 seconds later. Neither team would score over the match's final 50-plus minutes.

It was Montana's only match of the week. Washington State would go on to throttle North Dakota State 5-0 on Sunday in Pullman.

After opening 3-0-1, the best four-match start in program history, Montana dropped its first match of 2016. It is still just the fourth time in program history the Grizzlies have made it five matches into a season with only one loss.

"All those people who say losing can be a good thing for your team are crazy," said UM coach Mark Plakorus. "You never like to lose.

"We played well, but we had some situations we didn't handle very well. We need to be able to handle those situations better when a really good team comes at us hard. We've got to stay calm and trust our principles."

Montana was outshot 11-2 in the first half. In the second half, the Grizzlies held a 3-2 advantage and drew seven fouls and one yellow card out of the Cougars.

"We learned some things about ourselves in that game," Plakorus added. "We saw some things we need to work on and some things we need to get better at. We'll take what we can out of that match and move forward."

South Campus success: Montana has gone 20-8-6 on its home field since the start of the 2012 season, with six wins in each of the last two seasons, the most in a year since 2001. That success has upped the Grizzlies' all-time home record to 101-55-15.

Montana hosted Alberta back on Aug. 13 in an exhibition match. Since then it's been road trips to West Lafayette, Ind., Laramie, Wyo., Denver, Colo., and Pullman, Wash.

"It's been a long time since we've had a home match. Our exhibition game was almost a month ago, and we really haven't even been practicing on our field that much. Because of our travel, we've only been on it six times the last three weeks," said Plakorus. "It will be good to be back in front of our fans.

"The flip side is we have to learn how to play at home, with all the distractions that come with it. You have to be responsible as a player to get your rest and nutrition, things we can better monitor on the road. And then there is the pressure of playing at home in front of friends and family."

More on Boise State: The Broncos may be 1-4-0, but they are a strong one-win team. After opening the season with 2-1 home victory over Idaho State, Boise State lost at home to Seattle, 1-0, and UC Irvine, 1-0 in overtime.

The Redhawks opened their season with a win at Texas and are now ranked in the NSCAA West Region. The Anteaters are 5-1-0, their only loss an overtime setback at Nevada.

The Broncos dropped 2-1 decisions last week on the road at Oregon, which is unbeaten and ranked in the NSCAA Pacific Region, and Oregon State. BSU put 23 shots on the Ducks and Beavers.

"Boise State is much better than their record indicates," said Plakorus. "They are playing a very strong nonconference schedule and have faced some really good teams.

All four of the Broncos' losses have been by a single goal.

"They are a team that is very well organized and very committed to how they play. They are going to be very difficult to break down. They don't give up a lot of goals," said Plakorus. "And they have some very dangerous players in the attack.

"We're going to have to be sharp and on our game, and be very organized defensively. At the same time, we're going to have to get after them a little bit, get numbers forward and break them down and finish our opportunities."

History: Montana leads the all-time series with Boise State 6-5-1. Since dropping five straight to the Broncos between 2004 and '08, the Grizzlies are 4-0-1, with wins in the last three meetings. Montana is just 1-3-1 against Boise State at South Campus Stadium.

Boise State will always have a special connection for Plakorus. His first team at Montana, in 2011, opened the season with a 4-3 overtime win at Boise State in his first match as a collegiate head coach.

More on Gonzaga: The Bulldogs, who play at Utah State on Friday afternoon, enter the week on roll. They've lost just once this season, 2-1 to Oregon in Hawaii on the first weekend of the season.

Since then Gonzaga has played to a 2-2 draw at Big Sky Conference favorite Idaho, won at home 1-0 over Washington State and, on Sunday, blitzed Portland State in Spokane 5-2.

The Bulldogs are taking more than 13 shots per game, five more than Montana, and have scored 10 goals through their first five matches.

"They should be feeling confident," said Plakorus. "They have played a very good schedule and have some good wins. They are coming off a good win on Sunday when they scored a lot of goals. It's always a concern when a team scores that many in one game.

"It's always tough to play Gonzaga. They are usually very athletic and organized and prepared. We have to make sure we come in with the right mindset. I expect both games to be really good, tough, hard games, which is what we want."

History: Montana leads the all-time series with Gonzaga 13-9-0. The Grizzlies won the first 12 meetings, between 1994 and 2002. The Bulldogs then won nine straight in the series, between 2003 and '11. Montana ended that streak with a 2-0 victory in Spokane in 2014 in the teams' most recent meeting.

Montana notes:

* McKenzie Warren's goal at Washington State on Friday that made it 1-0 in the 27th minute was her second of the season and third of her career. Her goals have now come against Iowa, Purdue and Washington State.

* Allie Lucas's assist on Warren's goal was her second of the season and sixth of her career.

* Hallie Widner was held without a shot by the Cougars. It was the first time since Oct. 31, 2014, that a team managed to do that.

* Montana has scored seven goals this season on 40 shots, a .175 percentage. The Grizzlies' opponents have scored just four goals while taking 58 shots, a .069 percentage.

* Montana has already been given 10 yellow cards this season, the most in the Big Sky. That matches the most the Grizzlies received for an entire season in their first five years under Plakorus.

* With a 0.76 goals against average, Montana ranks second in the Big Sky behind Sacramento State, which has an average of 0.54, with three goals allowed in five matches.

* Widner, who has been kept out of the goal the last two matches, is still tied for the Big Sky lead with three other players with three goals scored.

* Mary Gintz, who missed Friday's match at Washington State, ranks second in the Big Sky with three assists. Friday's DNP was the first of her career after playing in 65 straight matches.

* Kailey Norman ranks second in the Big Sky in goals against average (0.76) and third in save percentage (.810).

* Raquel Watts made her first career start against Washington State, filling in for Gintz. Watts ended up playing 86 of a possible 90 minutes.

* Norman and Tess Brenneman have both played every minute of every match this season. The only other player with more than 400 of a possible 471 minutes: Janessa Fowler at 419.

* Montana has allowed just a single goal after halftime this season on 30 shots by its opponents.

Around the Big Sky Conference: Eastern Washington, at 3-1-0, continues to lead the league in winning percentage. The Eagles were winning at Gonzaga 2-1 in the 61st minute last Friday when the match was cancelled because of inclement weather. ... Northern Colorado, last year's NCAA tournament team out of the Big Sky, is a contender once again. The Bears play at Denver and host Wyoming their next two matches, two teams Montana faced on the road late last month. ... Sacramento State's last four matches have gone to overtime. ... Preseason Big Sky favorite Idaho is still sitting on a single win, 3-1 over Grand Canyon, a team that swept Northern Arizona, 5-0, and Northern Colorado, 1-0, last weekend in Phoenix. ... At 2-4-0, Idaho State already has more wins than the Bengals had all of last season. ... North Dakota has dropped four straight, with a single goal scored. The Fighting Hawks lost 4-1 at home to North Dakota State last Friday, two days before the Bison lost 5-0 at Washington State. ... Northern Arizona is 1-4, with 14 goals allowed in those losses. ... Portland State, at 0-4-0, is the only team in the Big Sky without at least a tie this season. The Vikings are allowing 4.0 goals per match.

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Players Mentioned

Tess Brenneman

Janessa Fowler

Mary Gintz

Allie Lucas

Kailey Norman

McKenzie Warren

Raquel Watts

Hallie Widner

University of Montana Athletics