Bears knock off Grizzlies in overtime

Friday, November 8

Greeley, Colo.

3 PM

Montana

7-6-6

Northern Colorado

8-10-4

Northern Colorado

Montana

11/8/2019 7:36:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

And just like that -- sudden victory and celebration for the victors, sudden heartbreak and the end of the season for the vanquished -- it was over.

Northern Colorado, the No. 4 seed, scored with less than a minute remaining in the first overtime to knock top-seeded Montana out of the Big Sky Conference Championship on Friday afternoon at UNC's Jackson Stadium in Greeley.

The Bears scored early and late to win 2-1 and advance to Sunday's title match, where they will face No. 3 Eastern Washington at noon. The Eagles moved on with a 2-1 overtime victory of their own on Friday over No. 2 Sacramento State.

It's the second consecutive season that the top two seeds were sent home after one match, and for the 10th time in the last 12 years, the tournament's No. 1 seed won't be moving on to the NCAA tournament.

After coming out of nowhere and surprising so many with last year's run to the tournament title and going unbeaten through nine regular-season Big Sky matches this fall, reality -- the binary nature of sport, with one winner, one loser -- landed hard just after 5 p.m. on Friday.

"I told them at the end, as we heard Northern Colorado celebrating on the field, to absorb it. Look at them celebrating and take it all in, then use it for leverage for our workouts this winter and everything else, because we don't want to feel like this ever again," said Citowicki.

It was a slow start, then a failure to take advantage of its chances after getting things righted that cost Montana a chance to repeat as tournament champions for the first time since the Grizzlies did it in 1999 and 2000.

Northern Colorado scored in the 15th minute when Montana, uncharacteristically, was unable to clear a loose ball from in front of net off a corner kick.

Maddie Barkow's initial shot was blocked, but her second attempt from just outside the left post was lifted into the upper netting. And Montana was facing its first deficit in more than a month.

It was symbolic of the first half, as the Bears came out aggressive and controlled much of the early action.

"We didn't come out of the gates like we normally do. They were all over us and deservedly took the lead," said Citowicki. "I thought we started a little bit slower because of the enormity of the moment."

That Montana scored 12 of its 14 regular-season goals in the second half hinted that a different Grizzly team would emerge from the locker room.

And it did.

Fifteen minutes in, Montana created a penalty kick when an attacking player was taken out by Northern Colorado goalkeeper Ashley Franza.

What Franza created, she also cleaned up. Her diving save to her left kept it a 1-0 game, but by that time Montana was on the offensive and gaining confidence. And looking like the team that had earned the No. 1 seed.

The Grizzlies finally got the equalizer in the 80th minute when McKenzie Kilpatrick streaked up the right side and played a beautiful cross that Alexa Coyle redirected into the goal at the near post.

It happened in such bang-bang fashion that it was un-defendable, just like the goal that would come 20 minutes later and end the match.

It was Coyle's fourth goal of the season, the 14th of her career, and gave her a goal in four of Montana's five Big Sky tournament matches the last three seasons.

"Once we talked at halftime, once we settled down, everything changed," said Citowicki. "The second half I thought we did really well.

"We created opportunities and scored a great goal. At that point I thought we were going to go off and run away with it. That's just not the game."

Indeed. As quickly as Coyle's strike tied the score, Northern Colorado won it in the 100th minute.

Kaitlyn Meeder got the ball in space on the right side, and she played it to Taylor Bray, who one-timed it past a diving Claire Howard.

And just like that, the game was over, as was Montana's season.

"It is such a game of moments. We didn't take advantage of our penalty kick, and we still had opportunities to put the game away, despite the extraordinarily slow start by us," said Citowicki.

"They had a beautiful cross, a beautiful finish. They got it done and we did not. And that's soccer. We'll take moments like this and learn from them and get better."

And in 52 weeks, the Grizzlies will have their shot once again, an entire year of training and preparing all for a handful of moments that define a season.

"The amount of motivation we have to move forward now is unbelievable. Every single person has a disgusted taste in their mouth. All they want to do is get back to work," said Citowicki, whose team does not have a senior on the roster. Everyone will be back.

"I don't want to feel like this again, and none of them want to feel like it again either. That's what we're going to work toward."