Griz rally, down Bengals 2-1

Sunday, October 6

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

4-5-3, 3-0-0BSC

Idaho State

1-11-2, 0-3-1BSC

Idaho State

Montana

Photo by: © Derek Johnson 2019

10/6/2019 5:02:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

It didn't take much time. Or many words. Montana soccer coach Chris Citowicki walked into his team's locker room at halftime on Sunday, his Grizzlies trailing Idaho State 1-0 at South Campus Stadium, and emerged just a few minutes later. It was his shortest mid-game talk on record.

What needed to be said anyway? Montana had controlled play the opening 45 minutes, and everyone, including the visiting team, knew it. The Grizzlies had created multiple scoring chances, but still the Bengals were the team in front, thanks to their goal in the 42nd minute on one of their three shots.

"There was definitely some frustration. We had some chances in the first half we didn't put away," said junior outside back Taylor Hansen, who would play a key role in Montana's first goal.

Another would come just minutes later as the Grizzlies (4-5-3, 3-0-0 BSC) remained unbeaten in league with a 2-1 victory. It was the first comeback victory for the Grizzlies under the second-year coach. Montana had been 0-12-3 under Citowicki when trailing before Sunday's match.

"Chris really didn't need to say much, because good teams respond," added Hansen. "We came out and responded to the first half and put a few away. The better team came out on top."

Montana tied it in the 68th minute on a beautiful delivery from distance by Hansen, who is a wizard in open space, a combination of speed, quickness and skill.

She played herself into an opening on the left side, got the ball to her dominant foot and sent it to the far post, where McKenzie Kilpatrick was waiting to knock in her second goal of the season.

"When Taylor cuts back to her right foot from that angle? She is going to bend it into the six every time," said Citowicki of Hansen's delivery. "She put the ball in the right spot, and Z's finish was just amazing."

The goal did more than just tie the score. It released the pressure that was building up against a team that entered the match with just a single win this season. It was a game everyone was expecting Montana to win.

The Grizzlies had done enough in the first half to break through but hadn't connected all the right dots. It's why Citowicki's most important move in the locker room wasn't to respond by changing anything. It was to reassure his team that it was already doing most everything right.

"It was a short halftime. The main message was just don't panic. We just had to keep knocking on the door until the door opened," he said.

It was Hansen and Kilpatrick who forced the door open. Alexa Coyle then used the momentum of Montana's first goal to score her second of the season, the 12th of her career, less than three minutes later.

"We knew it would come eventually, just because of the opportunities we were getting," said goalkeeper Claire Howard, who had an eventful second half. She went from getting kicked in the face, which required a stoppage of play, to making the save of the match, in the 88th minute.

"The main conversation at halftime was just: respond. It was just a matter of taking our moment, then taking our next moment. That first goal was huge for us. We felt like we could play our game again. We weren't chasing."

Last fall, Montana won 1-0 at Idaho State, when Coyle got the ball with her back to the goal in the 81st minute. She spun to her left and scored with a blast off her right foot.

She scored the game-winner against the Bengals once again on Sunday, in much the same way. Back to goal, a mostly helpless defender on her back, wondering which direction the powerful forward would turn.

This time she went to her right, which put the ball on her left foot. Same result. Montana 2, Idaho State 1.

"She enjoys playing Idaho State, I think," said Citowicki. "It was just a matter of time. Lex does what Lex does.

"(Coming back from a deficit) is something we haven't done before, so we had to figure it out. The fact that we did, that we experimented with different players in different positions, was great. I'm very, very happy with it."

Montana's 3-0-0 start to league is the Grizzlies' first since 2014, when they went 8-0-2 through their Big Sky schedule. Before that, a historian would have to dig back to 2002 to find the previous occasion of a 3-0-0 start.

Through two weekends -- with one lost match at Eastern Washington due to last weekend's weather -- the Grizzlies sit atop the Big Sky Conference standings, tied with Portland State with nine points but with one fewer match played than the Vikings, who have a loss on their resume.

Montana will try to hold down the top spot when it goes on the road for its next matches, at Northern Arizona (5-5-2, 1-1-1 BSC) on Friday night under the lights in Flagstaff and at Southern Utah (0-11-0, 0-3-0 BSC) next Sunday afternoon in Cedar City.