Final home matches upcoming

The Montana soccer team will play its final home matches of the season this weekend when it hosts Southern Utah and Northern Arizona at South Campus Stadium in Missoula.

The Grizzlies will face the Thunderbirds at 3 p.m. on Friday, the Lumberjacks on Sunday at noon.

Happenings: The match on Friday is Faculty Appreciation Day, with UM faculty and their families enjoying free admittance. Sunday's match will be Senior Day for five Grizzlies. All fans 55 years of age and older will get in free of charge.

Coverage: Both matches will have video coverage through the usual outlets (WatchBigSky.com, Pluto TV), with Cole Johnson calling the action.

Where they stand:

Montana: The Grizzlies (2-7-4, 1-2-2 BSC) are coming off an encouraging three-point road trip, which included a win at Idaho State on Friday. Montana is currently sitting outside the top six in the league standings but has four Big Sky matches remaining, one more than three of the teams ahead of it.

Southern Utah: The Thunderbirds (2-12-0, 1-4-0 BSC) are tied for last in the Big Sky standings with Idaho State but showed some scoring clout last weekend, topping Sacramento State 3-2 and nearly rallying from a 3-0 deficit against Portland State before falling 3-2.

Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks (8-3-2, 4-0-1 BSC), with 13 points, are a tournament lock but have eyes on the regular-season title, or at worst a top-two seed and tournament bye. Northern Arizona has recorded four straight shutouts, with its only non-win in league a 0-0 deadlock at Weber State.

What's at stake:

Montana: The Grizzlies are sitting on five points and probably need to reach 11 to make the tournament, which means, at a minimum, winning two of their final four matches. Montana goes on the road next week for matches at Portland State and Sacramento State, bubble teams themselves.

Southern Utah: With an overall record of 2-12-0 and facing a challenging road trip to Montana and Northern Colorado this week, it would be a stretch to call the Thunderbirds a tournament contender, but until a team is mathematically eliminated, it is still playing with something at stake.

Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks have been one of the Big Sky's more consistent programs over the years, but they have just one regular-season title to their credit: 2010. With home matches next weekend, this week's road trip to Northern Colorado and Montana will be huge toward adding another.

History:

Montana-Southern Utah: The Grizzlies have never lost to the Thunderbirds in a series that has taken place annually since 2011. Montana leads the series 5-0-2 and is 3-0-0 against Southern Utah in Missoula.

In last year's meeting, also in Missoula, Allie Lucas scored off a Janessa Fowler free kick in the 79th minute in Montana's 1-0 win.

Montana-Northern Arizona: The Grizzlies lead the series, which has been played every fall since 1997, 14-6-4 and are 9-1-2 at home against the Lumberjacks. Of late it's been a tight matchup each season, with the last seven meetings resulting in either a tie or one-goal differential.

Montana rallied for a 2-1 overtime victory last season in the teams' meeting in Missoula. Northern Arizona led 1-0 at the half, but Janessa Fowler converted a penalty kick in the 80th minute to tie it and Ellie Otteson headed in Alexa Coyle's cross in the 97th to end it.

Some notes about goal-scoring:

* Montana has scored a goal in three consecutive matches, a first for the 2018 team, and in five of its last six matches.

* The Grizzlies haven't scored more than one goal in a match since topping North Dakota 2-1 last Oct. 22, 16 opponents ago, and haven't scored more than two since Aug. 27, 2017, a 4-1 home win over San Jose State.

* Montana's leading goal-scorers, Kennedy Yost and Alexa Coyle, have two each. The lowest single-season high in program history is three, scored by Kaitlyn Heinsohn in 2007 and Frankie Brady in 2009.

* Coyle led the team in scoring last season with four goals.

* The Big Sky Conference has four teams averaging less than a goal per match: Eastern Washington and Southern Utah (0.86), Idaho State (0.85) and Montana (0.54).

* Montana is the only team in the Big Sky without a match this year with multiple goals scored.

Seniors to be recognized: Montana will honor the program's five seniors on Sunday morning before they play in (or attend as a Grizzly) their final home match: Janessa Fowler, Taryn Miller, Ellie Otteson and McKenzie Warren will be playing. Hallie Widner (injured) will be watching from the bench.

Dani Morris, who put an end to her playing career last spring after multiple knee injuries, also will be recognized.

The state of Montana:

Do you remember Montana's season opener, back on Aug. 17, a 1-0 home loss to Fresno State? Or how it took the team until its third match before it finally scored its first goal of the season?

Those things felt important at the time, but first-year coach Chris Citowicki always had the long-range view in mind. He knows memories are created by what a team does in October and November more so than what it does in August.

He knows early-season matches -- win, lose or draw -- are simply part of the process of going from Point A to whatever height a team can achieve.

Most people know the 2011 Montana team won the Big Sky Conference tournament in Greeley, Colo., and advanced to the NCAA tournament. People hear that and assume it must have been a dominant run through the schedule by a dominant team.

Few remember that the team, after opening 3-0-0, went 3-11-2 to close out the regular season and barely squeaked into the then four-team league tournament.

What people remember is the end, not necessarily the steps (and missteps) it took to get there.

Or think back to 2014, which feels like it wasn't the success that 2011 was, even though the Grizzlies went 8-0-2 through league. But Montana was upset on its home field in the Big Sky tournament semifinals by Idaho State.

It's the end result that people remember, not necessarily what it took to get there.

And if you believe Citowicki (and why would you have reason to doubt him?), Montana is playing now in a way that makes the Fresno State match feel like two years ago, not two months.

His Grizzlies went on the road last week and came through in what was probably a must-win situation, defeating Idaho State on ISU's Davis Field before playing another high-level match on Sunday, in what turned into a 2-1 loss to Big Sky leader Weber State.

"It's a huge road trip and you're playing two difficult teams. We met on Thursday night and asked, Can we have consistent back-to-back performances? Can we defend well the entire 90 minutes? Can we be in the right place on the field at the right time offensively?" he said.

"For us to do that for 90 minutes against Idaho State, then again against Weber was tremendous. We put together two complete performances with the right amount of energy and the right amount of effort. For us to be peaking at this time is awesome."

In 10 previous matches against Idaho State on its home field, Montana had only won three times prior to Friday.

It's now four out of 11 after Alexa Coyle scored in the 81st minute to break a scoreless deadlock. Claire Howard made six saves and Montana had its fifth shutout of the season.

"Friday was a complicated game, because it's a small field. That makes it difficult," Citowicki said. "And then you're playing against a high-energy team that likes to play a high line and likes to press.

"You have to be careful with what energy you put out to meet that. We did very well with the way we played, which led to a great goal from Alexa at the end."

No team has been hotter than Weber State, so for Montana to play even with the Wildcats on their home field, even if the result didn't quite reveal it, indicates the level at which the Grizzlies are performing.

"On Sunday we played a team that is the complete opposite in style (compared to Idaho State) and on a huge field," said Citowicki. "They are very possession-orientated and play very intelligent soccer. And we performed well again."

And the entire weekend was accomplished without the services of senior center back Taryn Miller, last year's Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, who had only missed 10 minutes all season before sitting out against Idaho State and Weber State.

Filling in was senior holding midfielder Janessa Fowler, who moved back on the field and played like she'd been there her entire career.

She scored the penalty kick that allowed Montana to pull even with the Wildcats late in the first half on Sunday.

"What we learned last weekend is that we can compete with anybody, even without our best center back," said Citowicki. "Not only did Janessa play well, she scored. It shows we can get it done and compete against anybody."

And don't look now but Montana has scored in three straight matches. Yes, two of those three goals came on penalty kicks and not in the run of play, but penalty kicks result from a team deciding that a foul in the box on a player possessing the ball is a better alternative than letting her shoot it.

No matter how Montana is getting it done, whether it be a forward or a center back doing the scoring, it's taken some burden off the team's defense, which for most of the season likely felt that it needed to come up with a shutout if the Grizzlies were going to have any chance of coming out with a good result.

"It feels good to be scoring goals," said Fowler. "It takes some weight off our defensive shoulders."

And now the final two weekends of league matches arrive, when tournament spots will be determined over the span of 10 days, from Friday until Sunday, Oct. 21.

What would be the best result for Montana when Portland State and Sacramento State meet on Sunday? And do the Grizzlies now want Weber State and Northern Colorado to just roll over everyone else on their schedule, to the benefit of Montana? Who do they play this weekend and at what time?

It can be tempting to play that game: What if this happens? Or what if that happens? Best to keep the blinders on, according to Alexa Coyle, and worry about what Montana is doing and let everything else take care of itself.

"It's easy to want to look at the standings, but I think for our team and for me personally, it's important to stay focused on what we're doing and focusing on what we need to be doing to get better," she said.

"If we do that, we'll be right where we want to be and reach the goals we want to."

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Weber State (5-0-1) and Northern Arizona (4-0-1) are the only two unbeatens. With 16 and 13 points, respectively, they are tournament locks. If the cutoff is 11 points, then Northern Colorado (4-1-0), with 12 points should be safely in as well.

* Idaho (3-1-1) has 10 points and still has matches against the two teams at the bottom of the standings (Southern Utah and Idaho State), which bodes well for the Vandals.

* That leaves two spots -- if we dare discount the postseason chances of ISU and SUU -- to be claimed from among four teams: Portland State (2-4-0, six points), Sacramento State (2-4-0, six points), Montana (1-2-2, five points) and Eastern Washington (1-3-1, four points).

* Portland State and Sacramento State meet on Sunday in California in those teams' only match of the weekend, which will allow Montana to make up ground in the standings. That the Grizzlies end the season playing those two teams on the road feels right. Someone will earn it through head-to-head play.

* Eastern Washington, like Idaho, still gets matches against Idaho State (at home), and Southern Utah (on the road), which is a bit unsettling, but the Eagles also face Weber State (at home on Friday) and have to play Northern Arizona in Flagstaff next weekend.

* Friday's schedule: SUU at UM, NAU at UNC, WSU at EWU, ISU at UI

* Non-Montana match to monitor: Northern Arizona at Northern Colorado. Feels like it could be a Big Sky tournament semifinal preview. The two teams are 8-1-1 in league.

* Sunday's schedule: NAU at UM, SUU at UNC, ISU at EWU, WSU at UI, PSU at SAC

* Non-Montana match to monitor: Portland State at Sacramento State. The two teams sitting one spot ahead of the Grizzlies in the standings. Best-case scenario? Probably a tie, with one point for each team ahead of next week's clashes.

Upcoming: Montana will face Portland State at 2 p.m. (MT) on Friday, Oct. 19, Sacramento State at 1 p.m. (MT) on Sunday, Oct. 21.

The Grizzlies will close out their regular season with a nonconference match at Cal Baptist on Friday, Oct. 26, an off weekend for the league's teams prior to the Big Sky tournament opening in Ogden, Utah, on Wednesday, Oct. 31.

Montana is the only league team with a match scheduled for that weekend.

Cal Baptist, which is transitioning to Division I, is 10-2-1, its only losses coming on the road at UC Davis and Seattle. The Lancers own a 2-0 home win over Southern Utah and last weekend went on the road and won at Grand Canyon, a team that took Washington State to overtime on the Cougars' home field.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alexa Coyle

Janessa Fowler

Claire Howard

Allie Lucas

Taryn Miller

Dani Morris

Ellie Otteson

McKenzie Warren

Hallie Widner

Kennedy Yost

University of Montana Athletics