Key matchups upcoming as home schedule winds down

The Montana soccer team, in first place through three of five weekends of league, will play its final home matches of the season this weekend when it hosts Sacramento State and Portland State at South Campus Stadium.

The Grizzlies (5-5-4, 4-0-1 BSC) will face the streaking Hornets (8-1-5, 2-0-3 BSC) on Friday at 3 p.m., the surging Vikings (4-10-0, 3-2-0 BSC) at noon on Sunday.

Montana will wrap up the regular season with road matches at Northern Colorado on Sunday, Oct. 27, and Eastern Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 30.

The matchup against the Eagles is a makeup date after the teams' game in Cheney on Sept. 29 was cancelled because of unplayable conditions.

The six-team Big Sky Conference tournament will open on Wednesday, Nov. 6, in Greeley, Colo., with two quarterfinal matches.

Game-week storylines:

* Friday's match against Sacramento State puts two streaking teams on the same field. The Hornets will enter the match on a 13-game unbeaten streak, tied for the second-longest streak in league history.

Portland State went 16 matches without a loss to set the record, a streak covering the final 13 matches of 2013 and the first three in 2014.

Sacramento State is 8-0-5 since opening the season with a 3-1 loss at UC Davis.

On the other end of the field, Montana is unbeaten in its last 12 matchups against Big Sky opponents. The Grizzlies closed last regular season 2-0-2, won three matches in the Big Sky tournament and have opened 4-0-1 this fall.

Unless the match ends in a draw, one of those streaks is coming to an end.

* Another streak will be on the line this weekend as well. Montana hasn't lost at South Campus Stadium in more than a year, since Northern Colorado rallied for a 2-1 overtime victory last Sept. 23.

They haven't all been wins -- the Grizzlies are 3-0-5 during the streak -- but there hasn't been a loss.

At 3-0-1 at home this season, Montana has a chance to go unbeaten on its home field. That's only been accomplished twice previously. The Grizzlies went 3-0-2 at South Campus Stadium in 2012, 6-0-2 in 2017.

* Montana junior goalkeeper Claire Howard has allowed a single goal through the Grizzlies' first five Big Sky matches, a first-half goal against Idaho State.

She leads the Big Sky with a 0.19 goals-against average and save percentage of .947.

But it's Sacramento State junior goalkeeper Aaliyah Fesili who leads the league in those categories in the overall statistics. She has a full-season goals-against average of 0.79, a save percentage of .859.

Howard (0.87/.814) ranks second in both. Both goalkeepers share the league lead with six shutouts.

* Sacramento State junior forward Kylee Kim-Bustillos leads the Big Sky in scoring with eight goals. That's as many as Montana has scored this fall as a team.

Junior defender Aubrey Goodwill leads the league with seven assists.

* It will be a study in extremes on Friday. Sacramento State has 25 upperclassmen on its roster. Montana counters with five.

* Montana has built its 4-0-1 league record by playing the (current) five bottom teams in the Big Sky standings (or maybe they're the bottom five teams in the standings partly because the Grizzlies beat them?)

Their final four regular-season games are against the teams directly behind them in the standings. Montana has 13 points, Northern Colorado 11, Eastern Washington 10, Sacramento State and Portland State nine.

* Since the Big Sky tournament expanded from four teams to six in 2014, the average cutline to make the postseason has been 14.4 points. It was 15 in 2014 and '15, 16 in 2016 and 13 the last two years.

From a historical perspective, one more win and the three points that would come with it, would have the Grizzlies likely locked into a tournament spot.

* The Big Sky has just two teams in the top 200 and only three in the top 260 in the latest NCAA RPI (there are 338 Division I women's soccer programs). Eastern Washington comes in at 180, Sacramento State at 200, Montana at 209. The next doesn't come until Weber State at 264.

More on Montana:

* Alexa Coyle is heating up offensively. The junior forward has scored two of her three goals this season in the last three matches. She took eight shots against Idaho State, four against Northern Arizona, five at Southern Utah. Ten of those 17 shots were put on goal.

* Montana played to a 0-0 draw at Southern Utah on Sunday, with the Thunderbirds making 12 saves. The last time an opponent made at least 10 saves against the Grizzlies: North Dakota totaled 14 in Montana's 2-1 home win late in the 2017 season.

* Freshman Allie Larsen assisted on Alexa Coyle's game-winner at Northern Arizona with a well-placed free kick. It was her first collegiate point.

* Montana had scored in four straight matches before getting shut out at Southern Utah on Sunday. The Grizzlies took 22 shots, putting a season-high 12 on goal.

More on Sacramento State:

* The Hornets, hindered greatly by injuries, went 3-13-2 last season and finished eighth in the Big Sky at 2-7-0 in league.

* Sacramento State was picked seventh in the preseason coaches' poll but collected one first-place vote by a coach who saw this coming.

* The Hornets played to a draw in their first three league matches: 1-1 at Weber State, 2-2 at Idaho State and 1-1 at home against Northern Arizona. They've won their last two matches, 3-0 at home against Southern Utah and 2-1 on Sunday at Portland State.

Montana-Sacramento State history:

* Montana leads the all-time series with Sacramento State 14-7-5 ... The Grizzlies are unbeaten in their last five matchups against the Hornets (4-0-1) ... Montana is 7-2-2 against Sacramento State in Missoula, with two straight wins ... The Grizzlies won last year's matchup at Sacramento State 3-1.

More on Portland State:

* The Vikings lost their first eight matches of the season before getting win No. 1, 1-0 at Pacific, in their final match before league began.

* PSU won three of its first four league matches -- 3-2 in overtime at Idaho State, a 1-0 loss at Weber State, 3-2 and 1-0 home wins over Southern Utah and Northern Arizona -- before falling to travel partner Sacramento State, 2-1, on Sunday.

* Portland State went 5-10-1 last year and missed the Big Sky tournament by going 3-5-1 in league. The Vikings were picked eighth in the preseason coaches' poll.

* Freshman Sienna Higinbotham (five goals, one assist) and junior Rilee Castilla (four goals) have accounted for nine of the team's 13 goals this season.

Montana-Portland State history:

* The teams' all-time series is deadlocked at 12-12-3 ... Montana has a losing record against Portland State in Missoula at 5-6-2 ... The teams played to a 1-1 draw in 2017 in the Vikings' last trip to South Campus Stadium ... In last year's a meeting, a 1-0 victory in Portland, Alexa Coyle scored the game-winner in the 71st minute.

This week in the Big Sky:

Friday's schedule: SAC at UM, PSU at UNC, SUU at EWU, NAU at UI

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

Upcoming: Things are winding down in a hurry. Montana will play at Northern Colorado, then Eastern Washington to end the regular season. Then the fun really begins: playoffs (but first the Grizzlies need to get there).

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Players Mentioned

Alexa Coyle

Claire Howard

Allie Larsen

University of Montana Athletics