Soccer program adds three

It was during Katie Hansen's sophomore year at Glenbard East High School in suburban Chicago when it became clear. She didn't want her soccer career to come to an end after just two more years.

A deep run at the state tournament with a group of like-minded individuals, all in it for the same goal, had her dreaming of finding the same thing at the college level.

"We weren't the best team, but we worked the hardest," said Hansen, one of three prep players who accepted admissions to Montana recently and will be joining the Grizzlies in the fall.

"It was awesome to be part of a team where we all unified for one goal. That was when I decided I wanted to play college soccer."

That dream will come true for the center back when she arrives in Missoula next summer, as it will for Carlie Smith, a forward from Belgrade, and Sami Siems, a projected midfielder from Portland, Ore.

Their addition ups Montana's incoming class to 10. Seven players signed National Letters of Intent last month.

But none will travel as far as Hansen, who took a family vacation to Montana as a 10-year-old but didn't return to the state until last month on a recruiting visit.

"I wasn't sure what I wanted in terms of size and location, but ever since I was younger, I kind of wanted to go someplace far away for college," she said.

"I thought it would push me to be more responsible and give me a chance to live somewhere outside the Midwest. Montana kind of checked all the boxes for me."

But the Grizzlies weren't on her radar as little as a few months ago, when her team for the Eclipse Select Soccer Club was making preparations to play in an ECNL showcase tournament in Phoenix.

Hansen and her coach were going over the list of schools that would be in attendance, and one in particular jumped off the page.

"Montana wasn't one that I had thought of before, but my coach kind of threw it out there," said Hansen, who has been described by one coach as "a very good athlete. Good in the air, comfortable with the ball."

She reached out to Montana's coaches. They watched her play in Phoenix and liked what they saw. All that remained was a visit to campus to seal it for both sides.

"I was hopeful I'd like it, and I did," said Hansen, who shouldn't be confused with fellow incoming freshman Kylie Hanson or current freshman Taylor Hansen.

"But I didn't decide before that February visit. I wanted to see the school first and meet the players on the team. It was the kind of environment I wanted to be in."

For Smith and Siems, it was quite the opposite. Montana had long been on their short list.

Smith, who was born in Bozeman, started attending Montana's camps as a 12-year-old, and even at a young age the forward proved to be a lot for Lauren Costa and Brooke Moody to handle.

And they weren't campers. They were Griz players, the 2012 and '14 Big Sky Conference Defensive MVPs, who were working the camps.

"Carlie is a very good athlete," says one coach who worked those early camps. "She has a good head about her and is solid with the ball and is very competitive.

"She has so much potential and is really going to get better when she gets into the college environment and focuses on just one sport."

Smith, who has competed in the sprints for Belgrade High's track and field team, scored nine goals and added four assists last fall to earn all-state honors.

"I'm really proud that I'll get to represent Montana," said Smith. "The girls on the team are amazing, so my goal is just to do the best I can."

Siems' story is an all-too-familiar one for those who know prep soccer. She came to Montana's camp the summer following her sophomore year at Westview High and caught the coaching staff's attention, just as she had the staffs from other schools at other camps.

But she tore her ACL just a couple of months later, in September of her junior year. That was enough for most programs, who crossed her off their recruiting boards.

"I had a bunch of colleges who stopped responding to me after my injury, and I kind of got down," said Siems, whose name is pronounced "seems" and whose dad's family is largely based in Sandpoint, Idaho.

"But during my time off, I realized I wasn't done with soccer. I wanted another four years. I knew I definitely wanted to go to Montana after going to camp there, so I started reaching out again."

The same ECNL tournament in Phoenix in November that connected Hansen to Montana also brought Siems to the Grizzlies.

"Those were my first club games back, so it was definitely interesting," she said. "I had a big, clunky knee brace on, so it was hard to get back into it, especially playing ECNL, but I was just so excited."

All three players were identified by former Montana coach Mark Plakorus, who envisioned a role for each of them in the system his Grizzlies played.

With Plakorus gone, there are the expected nerves, of not knowing who the new coach will be, of not knowing if that person will see in them the same role and potential Plakorus did.

"I was a little shaken (when I heard the news that he wouldn't be back), but I love the University of Montana," said Siems, mostly echoing the thoughts expressed by Hansen and Smith.

"It reminds me of home, and that's a really big reason I was so drawn to Montana. It really felt like home to me."

And what better way for a future freshman to leave the only home they've ever known than to feel like they're just transitioning to a new one?

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