Griz face Pac-12 teams to close non-conference slate

MONTANA AT OREGON
Friday, Sept. 15 / 8 p.m. MT / Eugene, Ore.
Pac-12 Networks Stream / Live Statistics

WASHINGTON STATE AT MONTANA
Sunday, Sept. 17 / 2 p.m. MT / Missoula, Mont.
Video Stream / Pluto TV (channel 237) / Live Statistics

GRIZ SET TO CLOSE NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
Head coach Mark Plakorus said prior to the start of the season that this year's non-conference slate could be the toughest he's ever assembled. That's proving to be true as the Grizzlies will face their third and fourth Power-5 teams so far this season. Montana opens the week by traveling to Oregon (Friday, 8 p.m. MT) before returning home to host Washington State (Sunday, 2 p.m. MT). Additionally, UM also played four Mountain West schools and most recently became the first team all season to defeat Northern Iowa.

"The girls have been doing a great job every week of getting better and growing as individuals and as a team," head coach Mark Plakorus said. "We've come together and I'm really excited for what we can do."

First up this weekend is an Oregon squad that is 4-2 on the young season. It will be UM's fifth consecutive match away from home. Fans can watch the match through a live stream provided by the Pac-12 Network. The team will fly back to Missoula Saturday morning, rest and prepare for Washington State on Sunday afternoon, on its home field. The Grizzlies got a glimpse of Washington State two weeks ago when they traveled to Pullman, Wash. Both the Grizzlies and Cougars played Georgia Southern and Nebraska that weekend, but the two teams did not play since they would be facing each other two weeks later.

"Both teams are very athletic and are playing really well right now," Plakorus said." Oregon has a lot of weapons and I feel like they'll come at us pretty hard. Another adjustment we'll have to make it playing on turf out there. As for Washington State, any time you can get a Power-5 team at home it's pretty special. They'll be a big challenge and they play a unique system that we'll have to be ready for to try and take them out of doing what they like to do."

Hey fans, be sure to show this image at the front gate on 9/17 to get into the game for $1!#FightUniteWin pic.twitter.com/wtKsH6xvPO
— Montana Griz Soccer (@MontanaGrizSOC) September 13, 2017

MONTANA AT A GLANCE

Montana enters play this weekend with a 5-3 mark. After back-to-back 1-0 losses to Big Ten schools, UM earned a win last Sunday, knocking off previously undefeated Northern Iowa.
UM is led by a pair of freshmen. Alexa Coyle has a team-most two goals, five points and 11 shots on goal, while Claire Howard has posted two shutouts in goal.
Overall, six of UM's 10 goals have come from freshmen, with five different newcomers accounting for 15 of the team's 29 points (51.7 percent).
UM went 9-6-5 in 2016 and tied for third in the Big Sky with a 5-2-3 league record. The No. 4 Grizzlies lost 1-0 to No. 5 Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky tournament.
UM returned eight starters and 12 letterwinners from its 2016 team, including All-Big Sky Conference second-team performers Chanelle Pederson and Hallie Widner.
The Griz returned all but two of its goal scorers from 2016. Overall, UM returned 78.3 percent of its goals scored and total points from 2016, plus 73.9 percent of its assists.
On the flip side, UM had to replace All-Big Sky Conference first-team selection Tess Brenneman and 2016 Big Sky Conference Goalkeeper of the Year Kailey Norman.
UM was picked to finish third out of 11 teams in the Big Sky Conference preseason poll.
UM is led by seventh-year coach Mark Plakorus, who has guided the Grizzlies to five Big Sky tournaments in his first six seasons.
UM has won three Big Sky Conference titles under Plakorus (2011 tournament, 2012 and 2014 regular-season).

SCOUTING OREGON

The Ducks are 4-2 on the season and had a four-match win streak prior to last Sunday's 1-0 loss at UC Irvine. They've beaten Kansas State, Oklahoma, Cal Poly and Idaho.
Junior Marissa Everett is the Ducks' offensive leader, scoring three of their seven goals and leading them with 15 shots and nine shots on goal. Junior Kyra Fawcett has two goals scored while two others have one. She was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 4.
Junior Halla Hinriksdottir has started all six games in goal, allowing six goals versus 21 saves and three shutouts.
UO went 8-10-2 in 2016, finishing 10th in the Pac-12 (2-8-1). It returned 15 of 19 letterwinners from that squad, including nine starters. UO was picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 again in 2017.
The Ducks are coached by Kat Mertz, who is 29-47-7 in four-plus seasons.

SERIES HISTORY VS. DUCKS
Montana is a perfect 4-0 against Oregon, out-scoring the Ducks 7-0. The Grizzlies posted shutout victories in 1996, 2000, 2001 and 2007 – with the 2000 and 2007 meetings coming in Eugene.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON STATE

The Cougars enter the week with a 4-1-1 mark, posting impressive wins over then-No. 14 Nebraska and a 5-0 shutout over Georgia Southern – common opponents as the Griz. They also tied then-No. 19 Minnesota in a scoreless draw. Prior to playing UM on Sunday, WSU travels to Utah Valley on Thursday night.
The Cougars are out-scoring their opponents 11-2 on the season, with their four victories coming in shutout form. They have not allowed a goal since Aug. 27.
WSU welcomed 14 newcomers this fall, but still returned eight of 11 starters from last year's squad.
Sophomore Morgan Weaver leads WSU with three goals scored and 20 shots. As a freshman in 2016 she was named to the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team and was ranked as the nation's 60th-best freshman by Top Drawer Soccer.
Goalkeeper Ella Dederick has allowed just two goals this season, ranking 13th in the NCAA with a 0.321 goals-allowed-per-game average.
The Cougars were picked to finish seventh out of 12 teams in the preseason Pac-12 poll.
Todd Shulenberger is in his third season in Pullman, posting a 26-16-3 record entering action this week.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE COUGARS
Washington State leads the all-time series over Montana, 11-6-1, including seven consecutive victories. The two teams first met in 1994, UM's first season, and continued every season through 2008, except for 2001. The two picked the series back up in 2014, meeting for the fourth season in a row on Sunday.

Fifteen current Griz players have faced Washington State before, including five – Kaitlin Crowell, Maddy Emerick, Allie Lucas, Ashlee Pedersen and Chanelle Pederson – who have played in all three meetings over the past three seasons. In the 2015 home loss, McKenzie Warren scored a goal, assisted by Allie Lucas.

WEEKEND REWIND
Montana opened its weekend road trip to the Midwest with a 1-0 loss at Iowa – its second consecutive 1-0 deficit to a Big Ten school. The game's only goal came on a penalty kick after an unfortunate bounce resulted in a handball called against UM, giving the Hawkeyes a free kick. They converted, and despite having several good looks, the Griz couldn't get anything to fall.

"We battled and fought," head coach Mark Plakorus said after the loss. "Once again, I'm real proud of our effort and competitive fight. Our performance was very good against a very talented and difficult team. We're close. We have to keep working to find a way to beat these teams."

The Grizzlies did find a way two days later, defeating a Northern Iowa squad that entered the day unbeaten and having allowed zero goals all season. UNI was one of four teams (out of 333 in NCAA Division I) to not allow a goal entering that game.

The Panthers scored in the ninth minute to take a 1-0 advantage, but UM never gave up, and in the 56th minute, freshman Rita Lang put the Grizzlies on the board. From the left side, freshman Alexa Coyle centered the ball back to Lang, who took a one-timer with her left foot. The shot, taken at the left corner of the six-yard box, hit under the crossbar for a signature goal. It was the first of Lang's career and the first allowed by UNI all season.

Tied at 1-1, the Griz weren't done. Just two minutes later, another freshman, Raye Burton, gave her team the lead. Lang's throw-in was headed by Coyle back to Burton, who sailed a shot into the top-right corner of the net from just outside the box, past a diving goaltender.

"It was a really quality weekend for us against two quality teams," Plakorus said. "To fall behind against UNI, a very difficult team to beat at home, we turned to a couple kids on the bench who hadn't played in a while and they provided a spark for us. We got two goals from a couple freshmen and the back line buckled down to help us get a good win."

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE
Finally, after three weeks and five matches on the road, the Grizzlies will return to Missoula and South Campus Stadium on Sunday to host Washington State. The team is excited to finally play in front of its home fans again and for the opportunity to host a Pac-12 school.

Washington State – along with Purdue and Iowa of the Big Ten – visited Missoula in 2015, but prior to that, it had been since 2010 (Iowa State) that a Power-5 school played on the Grizzlies' home turf.

The team is also excited to play at home because of the success it has had there. The Grizzlies are 2-0 at home this season – defeating Air Force and San Jose State during the second week of the season – and over the past five-plus seasons, they have won more than 70 percent of their home matches, going 27-10-7.

"Missoula is a great soccer town," Plakorus said. "It has always supported us very well, and we always enjoy playing here in front of our fans."

TRENDING
Through four weeks of play, a couple trends have stood out regarding the UM soccer team. For instance, the Griz are 3-1 on Fridays and in night matches. The team is a perfect 4-0 when scoring first, and in fact, 5-0 when scoring at all – UM's three losses have been shutouts. Overall, the Griz are out-scoring its opponents 11-7 and have yet to allow more than two goals in a game.

STARTING THEM YOUNG
Despite returning 12 letterwinners and seven starters from last year's squad, Montana also added 14 newcomers during the offseason. The young players are making names for themselves early:

Eight players have made their collegiate debuts this season, including four who have earned starts.
Alexa Coyle and Claire Howard have started all eight contests for the Griz. Coyle is the team leader for points (5) and shots (11) while Howard has posted two shutouts in net.
Six of UM's 10 goals scored have come by freshmen, in addition to 51.7 percent (15 of 29) of the team's total points.
In last Sunday's win at Northern Iowa, both goals and both assists were credited to freshmen. Rita Lang scored her first collegiate goal (assisted by Coyle). Lang received the assist for Raye Burton's game-winning goal.
During the Montana Cup (Aug. 25-27), UM's first three goals were scored by freshmen. Howard, a fellow freshman, has also earned two shutouts in goal.

"It's always good to have talent," Plakorus said. "I think every class that comes through here has come in with the expectation that they have to perform. It's good on them to make sure they did the preparation coming in, and the upperclassmen have done a fantastic job of bringing them into our family and preparing them for our expectations. I'm happy for them, but it's still very early in the season. They've started strong, but they have to find consistency and stay humble."

Want to see Caitlin Rogers do the worm? It's in today's #MeetUMMonday! pic.twitter.com/YL2ys0Qnlg
— Montana Griz Soccer (@MontanaGrizSOC) September 11, 2017

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
UM's victory over Georgia Southern on Sept. 1 ran its win streak at the time to three matches and improved its season record to 4-1, tied for its best five-match start to a season in school history (also done in 2000).

MILLER NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior defender Taryn Miller was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Aug. 29.

Miller's defensive play was critical to Montana's wins over Air Force and San José State, with the Griz allowing just one goal over the two matches. In UM's shutout victory over Air Force, Miller and the Griz defense allowed just two shots on goal. Two days later against the Spartans – who won the 2015 Mountain West championship and played in the NCAA tournament – the Griz held SJSU to one goal in a 4-1 win.

Not limited to defense, though, Miller also scored a goal and tallied an assist in the win. Her goal came in the 71st minute to give UM a three-goal advantage.

NEXT PLAYER UP
Redshirt freshman Claire Howard has had a strong start to her collegiate career, posting shutouts in two of her first three contests. However, leading 3-1 against San José State on Aug. 27, she went down with a leg injury that required 10 stitches. In came Maddie Vincent, who recorded two saves and faced five total shots to preserve the win for the Griz.

SEASON-OPENING SUCCESS
With Montana's Aug. 18 win over Boise State (Aug. 18), UM improved to 5-0-2 in season openers under Plakorus. Six of those matchups have been against Mountain West foes, facing Air Force, Boise State and Wyoming twice each. All-time, UM is 12-9-3 in season openers.

PICKED TO FINISH 3RD
The Big Sky Conference announced the 2017 preseason soccer poll on Aug. 7, with Montana picked to finish third out of 11 teams. UM received 76 points in the poll, which was voted on by the league's head coaches.

Eastern Washington, which won the Big Sky tournament as a No. 5 seed in 2016, is the preseason favorite, earning 95 points and eight of the 11 top votes. Northern Arizona was predicted to finish second, receiving 80 points and one first-place vote; EWU beat NAU in last year's championship game. Idaho, the 2016 regular-season champion and last year's preseason favorite, is just behind UM with 75 points and one first-place vote. Northern Colorado was the other school to earn a first place vote, receiving one and 68 total points, for fifth place.

The Griz will face those four teams consecutively in October, with three of the four matchups coming on the road.

LOOK WHO'S BACK
The Griz returned 12 letterwinners from last year's squad, including six players who started three-quarters of its contests or more. That group includes McKenzie Warren and Hallie Widner – who tied for the team lead with four goals apiece – plus a slew of offensive talent. Overall, UM returned 78.3 percent of its goals scored and total points from 2016, plus 73.9 percent of its assists.

BRINGING IN REINFORCEMENT
Joining second-year assistant coach Micaela Castain, Katie Benz was added to the Griz coaching staff over the summer.

Benz's collegiate career at Cal included four trips to the NCAA tournament. Following graduation, she played professionally before getting into coaching in 2016, as volunteer director of operations at the University of Denver. Castain was a standout player at Washington State, leading the Cougars to three NCAA tournament appearances and being named the 2013 Pac-12 Player of the Year and a second-team NSCAA All-American.

"Micaela and Katie are, first of all, two great people," said Plakorus, noting their character, work ethic and drive to be successful. "You look at these two young ladies and nothing came easy for them. They had to work extremely hard and went on to be successful. They're great coaches but great role models as well."

AN OPPORTUNITY AND RESPONSIBILITY
As the only Division-I women's soccer team in the state of Montana, Plakorus takes his job seriously. It's a big flag to carry, but something he enjoys doing.

"It's an unbelievable opportunity," Plakorus said. "As I began my coaching career, I always had my eye on Montana. I thought it was special what this school and these athletics teams mean to this state and this community. To be a Grizzly and run this program and be responsible for it is very special."

SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM
A total of 19 student-athletes from the 2016 soccer team earned Academic All-Big Sky Conference recognition in February for obtaining a 3.2 grade-point average or better. The figure was tied for the most in the league.

Of the 19, 13 are on this year's roster, in addition to true freshman Alexa Coyle, who was one of just 49 high school seniors nationally named to the NSCAA High School Scholar All-America Team by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

LOOKING AHEAD
Montana will open Big Sky play next weekend. After a bye on Friday, UM will host Southern Utah in its conference opener. The Griz were picked to finish third in the Big Sky preseason poll while the Thunderbirds were selected 10th.

Griz face Pac-12 teams to close non-conference slate

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tess Brenneman

Raye Burton

Alexa Coyle

Kaitlin Crowell

Maddy Emerick

Claire Howard

Rita Lang

Allie Lucas

Taryn Miller

Kailey Norman

Ashlee Pedersen

Chanelle Pederson

Caitlin Rogers

Maddie Vincent

McKenzie Warren

Hallie Widner

University of Montana Athletics

Griz face Pac-12 teams to close non-conference slate

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tess Brenneman

Raye Burton

Alexa Coyle

Kaitlin Crowell

Maddy Emerick

Claire Howard

Rita Lang

Allie Lucas

Taryn Miller

Kailey Norman

Ashlee Pedersen

Chanelle Pederson

Caitlin Rogers

Maddie Vincent

McKenzie Warren

Hallie Widner

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